Tony Sheldon (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise in support of Senator Sterle's motion to refer the Transport Security Amendment (Serious Crime) Bill 2020 to the Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport Legislation Committee for inquiry and report. We've had a last-minute amendment to this legislation, which has been on the books for years—an amendment that takes away the rights of so many workers within this industry. At the same time, as Senator Sterle quite rightly outlined, we've got ships being crewed by people that do not get proper security checks. How, within 28 or 48 hours, can you possibly turn around and do a proper check on an overseas seafarer who is carting ammonium nitrate around the shores of this country? How can you possibly do it so quickly? We know they can't do it for Australian seafarers. We know they can't do it for aviation workers. We know they can't do it for workers working on our ports. So they're not doing it and they're not doing it properly.

This particular bill seeks to extend a right to dramatically expand the powers of the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission—an organisation which, at this point, is substantially underresourced and which hasn't been cross-examined in any real detail about this proposal which would see workers lose their clearance entirely on the basis of untested intelligence. They would be doing it on the basis of a suspected future breach. It's a bit like saying: 'You're likely to get a speeding ticket sometime in the future. I will just fine you now.' But the fine in this case is losing your job. The fine in this case is pertaining to people they don't have evidence against. You can take the worst of all circumstances—be a pariah amongst your community, lose your job, be embarrassed with your family, and be robbed of your income.

What if we had this sort of approach to corporations on wage theft? My goodness! Imagine saying, 'I think this company is in that group that might steal by wage theft, if you cross-examine the sorts of statistics on wage theft—which parts of the market and who is most likely to offend—so let's just hold them to account straightaway.' That would be ridiculous, but that's exactly what they are doing with seafarers and aviation workers, based on intelligence that is not transparent and is not appropriately accountable. Quite clearly this is all trumped up. If you were trumping this up into some sort of national security concern, then you would actually have a strategy for the seafarers who have been brought in from overseas who do the coastal shipping. But guess what? They don't. It's not hard to work out why they don't; it's because that's where the big money is for those corporations that put us in danger. That's what good government is supposed to be about. It's supposed to be about making sure it's not about the dollar but about the community. It's about our national interests, not just about the next trip we can get at a lower rate.

As I said before in relation to ammonium nitrate—let alone gun running, drug using and murderers, as Senator Sterle has pointed out—it's critically important that we look at the appropriate merits of any proposition, and that opportunity has not been fully exercised. Yes, it had a momentary look at the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee, but there was not a proper investigation into the aspects that the government has put forward. There has not been an opportunity for appropriate committee surveillance of these issues, and it will be able to give evidence in an appropriate way. Answers have not been given.

I've sat in various hearings of RRAT—not in camera—when we were cross-examining about the strengths, pitfalls and weaknesses. There was no suggestion that these sorts of arrangements were going to specifically be put into this bill when we were actually having these discussions. They avoided it because they're hiding from the facts and trying to put it through at the last minute because it doesn't stand the test.

This affects real people and the capacity to have this done transparently. The fact is that this is being sped through. It's appropriate that this be given further consideration so that all the parties and the crossbenchers can give it proper consideration. I urge people to support the proposition from Senator Sterle. Let's make sure we get this on track.