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

I rise to speak on the Migration Amendment (New Maritime Crew Visas) Bill 2020. The Prime Minister, as was mentioned earlier by Senator Keneally, infamously keeps a trophy in the office. You've really got to picture this: in the proudest spot in his office is a trophy of a boat. On the boat is written, 'I stopped these,' in thick black letters. I don't think the Prime Minister could name a single accomplishment he's achieved in his current office, because he certainly hasn't achieved a competent vaccine rollout, he certainly hasn't figured out a national quarantine system and he certainly hasn't grown wages for Australia's middle class. One thing he will always take credit for, apparently, is stopping the boats.

But here's the kicker. Here's the dirty little secret the Prime Minister doesn't want you to know. The crowning achievement of the Prime Minister's career is a lie. It's a fraud. They didn't stop the boats, because, if you're a drug trafficker, a people smuggler or a terrorist and you board a boat as a foreign crew member, it's all clear. It doesn't matter where the ship is coming from or what flag it flies. It could be a Liberian flag or a Russian flag; it doesn't matter. You can apply for the maritime crew visas. They operate with as little as 24 hours notice, and they give them the tick to come in across our borders. These foreign ships regularly have more than 20 foreign crew on board, and, under the Morrison government, our intelligence agencies have 24 hours to vet them all. That proposition would make any sensible person ask the following: how thoroughly can the Morrison government do a background check on 20-plus foreign crew members in just 24 hours, when it takes the Morrison government up to three months to process background checks for Australian maritime workers? It's a gaping hole in our border protection. If you're an Australian maritime worker, you need a maritime security identification card, or MSIC. The waiting time for one of these is as long as three months. It takes the government three months to do background checks on a single Australian maritime worker, and the Prime Minister would have you believe he can do it for 20 foreign crew members in a single day. That doesn't pass the sniff test, does it?

When confronted with these facts, what did the Morrison government do just last week? It introduced a bill to add more red tape to the approvals for processing Australian workers but did nothing to plug the Prime Minister's huge, gaping border hole. Labor even put forward amendments, in good faith, to fix the problem, but the government voted them down.

That brings me to the private senator's bill before us today. The bill aims to ensure foreign crew are subject to proper security background checks. This bill will bring the background check requirement for foreign crews on ships with a temporary licence to engage in Australian coastal voyages into line with the background checks required for Australian maritime workers. This bill will end the blatant discrimination by the Morrison government against Australian seafarers and maritime workers.

Here's another dirty little secret the Prime Minister doesn't want you to know. Thirty years ago there were 100 Australian flagged vessels. If you saw a cargo ship come into a port in Australia, there was a reasonable chance it was an Australian ship with an Australian crew paid a fair Australian wage, and it was complying with Australia's labour and tax laws and border requirements. How many Australian vessels are here today? Just 13. An Australian flagged vessel is almost as rare a sight today as a Prime Minister taking accountability. As a result, the government has overseen the deaths of thousands of jobs across Australia. It has exposed Australia to a massive national security risk and put our borders at risk. That's a risk that's compounded by foreign crews being able to waltz into Australian ports with 24 hours notice. Within 24 hours for a foreign crew and up to three months for Australian crews—it doesn't compute, does it? It doesn't compute unless you've been lax on border security and left gaping holes.

The government's own then Department of Immigration and Border Protection in 2017—I'd be pleased if those on the opposite side could answer this one—said:

Reduced transparency or secrecy surrounding complex financial and ownership arrangements are factors that can make FOC ships more attractive for use in illegal activity, including by organised crime or terrorist groups.

Here are some quick facts about the size and scale of the Prime Minister's gaping border hole: 20,000 foreign flagged ships with 200,000 foreign crew, both literally and figuratively, sail through Australian border control each and every year, again, on as little as 24 hours notice. The Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission reports that 72 per cent of cocaine, 83 per cent of cannabis and 72 per cent amphetamines seized in 2018-19 came through our maritime ports. Last year, 18 foreign flagged ships carried ammonium nitrate on Australia's coastal routes.

Let's look at the issue of ammonium nitrate. We've got people that have given 24 hours notice sitting on ships with ammonium nitrate without getting proper security checks. They get flagged through. They get the tick and they come in. For those who may not be aware of the dangers of ammonium nitrate, it's the same material that caused the massive explosion in Beirut last year that killed, tragically, more than 200 people and was heard hundreds of kilometres away. The Beirut explosion was caused by 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate that had been seized from a Russian ship. The 18 foreign flagged ships that carried ammonium nitrate around Australia carried up to 6,500 tonnes each, more than double the amount in Beirut. In 2019, 85,000 tonnes of ammonium nitrate were moved through the port of Newcastle alone. That's more than 30 times the amount that led to the Beirut explosion. The crew carrying the material gets their maritime crew visas from the Morrison government with 24 hours notice and without adequate security checks.

The Senate Standing Committees on Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport heard recently that a foreign master, Captain Salas, was provided a maritime crew visa in 2015-16 to sail into Australian waters even though just three years earlier he had been investigated by the New South Wales coroner for three highly suspicious deaths on his ship. He had previously admitted to being a gun runner in Australia. Here is what the committee report said:

In giving evidence to the Coronial Inquest, Captain Salas admitted that he had assaulted a crew member on several occasions, and that he facilitated the purchase of guns. Captain Salas organised for crew to complete gun applications, collected money for the guns (with the guns to be collected in the Philippines), and 'kept a small commission for his administrative efforts'.

Or so he says. After all this, Captain Salas was granted a maritime crew visa in both 2015 and 2016. It's very apparent that the maritime crew visa system is absolutely a joke.

Just last week, two crew members of a Panamanian flagged ship, the Glorious Plumeria, snuck through security at the Port of Geelong. They're still at large nine days later: no Border Force, no security checks from screening and no on-time, real-time oversight. Quite clearly, the government has dropped the ball, but the thing is—we spoke about this last week—here is an opportunity for the government to rectify what is a gaping hole in our border security.

The Migration Amendment (New Maritime Crew Visa) Bill 2020 addresses that gaping hole in the Morrison government's border security by creating two categories of maritime crew visa: a transit visa for international seafarers entering Australia on a continuing international voyage, which is supposed to be the purpose of the existing visa; and a more rigorous maritime crew visa for international seafarers engaged on ships authorised under a temporary licence to undertake coastal voyages.

Now, it's quite clear that there are these lax arrangements on our borders. We see this lax arrangement when it comes to foreign crews. We see this lax arrangement when it comes to moving dangerous goods, such as ammonium nitrate, around our coast, from port to port. And yet the government fails to say that those people need to be properly checked. Sorry, I'm not quite telling the whole truth. What the government did say is that, if the criminal or the terrorist applies for an ASIC or MSIC, then they will get the same test that every Australian crew member gets. What a ridiculous suggestion. What a ludicrous suggestion. What a pathetic suggestion. It is demonstrating the fact they have not got the answer on this critical question of border protection.

The government argues that the foreign crew do not need strong security checks because they are under constant supervision while in port. However, the Senate Regional and Rural Affairs and Transport Legislation Committee heard evidence that there are no X-ray machines. We heard this last week. There are no metal detectors. We heard this last week. There are no bag checks. We heard that as well last week. These seafarers often just have a backpack, and they're not checked. And that's border security? That's the most lax border security, and the country will pay the price for what this government is failing to do. There is an opportunity to them redeem themselves: vote for the bill.

The Department of Home Affairs has also confirmed that, although some foreign vessels have more than 20 seafarers on board, all 20 foreign seafarers can be left to walk through highly sensitive areas of ports that are simply under security camera supervision, without any MSIC accredited officials physically present to escort them. That is interesting, because that information was given to a Senate inquiry this year. So what happened at Geelong? Exactly what Paul McAleer said, as I read out, when he gave evidence to the same inquiry—that is, that there are 'gaping holes' and that border security and the ABF are not aware of them. The government's certainly not aware of them; otherwise, they'd be filling them. It does raise a serious question: why aren't they filling the gaps in those lax border security arrangements? That's because their paymasters don't want to spend an extra amount of money, or have their businesses pay extra amounts of money, to make sure terrorists don't come into this country, drug traffickers don't come into this country and gun runners don't come into this country.

The Prime Minister owes Australia's maritime workers an explanation of why they should be forced to wait three months for an MSIC, while foreign crew can obtain a maritime crew visa in just 24 hours. And the Prime Minister owes an explanation to the Australian people why he's keeping our borders open to terrorists, drug traffickers, gun runners and people smugglers.