David Van (Victoria, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Migration Amendment (New Maritime Crew Visas) Bill 2020 and why it is clear to me that this bill is not in Australia's interests and not in the interests of the maritime industry. As an island nation, Australia conducts 98 per cent of its trade through its ports. We are incredibly reliant on the maritime industry to keep us connected to the world and in ensuring our ports and maritime industry are operating as efficiently as possible. It's of vital importance to Australia's economy and national security.

My grandfather was an ambulance driver on the wharves for most of his working life. I still remember hearing him talking around the Sunday lunch table about the crime and corruption he used to see going on at those ports each and every day. This is why I was proud to see the Transport Security Amendment (Serious Crime) Bill pass recently, so that good, honest people like my grandfather who work at our ports are able to go to work every day in an environment that is free from crime and corruption.

The government's role is, first and foremost, to keep Australians safe and secure, and this government is committed to combating the impact and the influence of serious and organised crime at Australia's airports and seaports. That is why we recently passed the serious crime bill: to stop corruption and crime at our ports of entry and to root out organised crime from areas of national security importance. Numerous inquiries and reports have noted that malicious individuals and organised crime groups have been exploiting weaknesses in the aviation and maritime security identification card schemes. That is why the government introduced the serious crime bill: to stop serious criminal activity occurring at our seaports and to ensure that our borders are secure. That is the bill that those opposite fought for days last week to try to stop.

The Migration Amendment (New Maritime Crew Visas) Bill introduced by Senator Keneally is largely a redundant bill that only duplicates existing security provisions and threatens to undermine the serious crime bill that recently passed through the parliament. The amendments put forward by the Labor Party will not help keep Australians safe, and this bill looks to undermine the Morrison government's hard work in rooting out organised crime.

Firstly, in regard to the amendments on sheet 1117, if the migration amendment bill 2020 ever commences, the amendments made by the serious crime bill will never commence. This means that Australians will be less safe and less secure. This means that organised crime groups will continue to exploit weaknesses in the aviation and maritime security identification card schemes. Is Labor okay with that—seriously? Is Labor okay with letting serious crime threaten our economy and our way of life? Labor's attempt to stop amendments made by the serious crime bill show that they will never be tough on crime and that they don't take border security seriously; they never have. If we can't trust Labor to take border security seriously, what can we trust them to do?

One of the many lessons COVID-19 has taught us is that we must ensure that our supply chains are free from constraint and that they are able to operate as efficiently as possible so that critical goods and services can get to where they are needed. We've seen that maritime workers are essential to our economy and that without them our trade stands still. Ensuring that our maritime industry is able to operate as efficiently as possible means that our ports must be free from crime and corruption and unencumbered by unnecessary processes so that honest, hardworking people, such as my grandfather was, can get on with the job. However, what Labor is proposing only looks to constrain our maritime industry and place further administrative burdens on our departments.

Let's have a look at the amendments proposed in this bill by Labor and at what they do and why they are not in the interests of Australia's maritime industry. This bill splits the current maritime crew visa into two new categories: the international seafarers transit visa, which is largely the same as the current maritime crew visa, and the international seafarers work visa. Currently all maritime crew visa applicants are already required to meet prescribed public interest criteria relating to character, including criminal history and national security. If a new visa subclass is introduced, it is more likely that character and national security public interest criteria would apply and that the security assessments and criminal history checks would result in potential duplication of existing visa criteria for a subset of MCV applicants, creating more work for the departments and slower processing times for applicants.

This bill requires applicants for the proposed international seafarers work visa to satisfy criteria consistent with any criteria in maritime regulations concerning security assessments and criminal history checks of an MSIC applicant. The proposed amendments attempt to link aspects of the MSIC background check to the maritime crew visa, which would be a replication of current regulatory requirements and cause unnecessary delays in the issuing of visas. As a proud member of the Liberal government, I believe in making our systems more efficient in ensuring our trade industry is as productive as possible. Unnecessary delays in the granting of visas only threatens to hurt our maritime trade environment and, with it, our economy and economic growth. While this may not be something that the Labor Party cares about, I do, as all of those on this side do. This risk is simply unacceptable.

Senator Keneally's proposal would duplicate screening processes for a cohort who already need to obtain an MSIC and it would also increase the workload of screening agencies for an approved cohort who would only enter a security zone while monitored. If a maritime crew visa holder requires unmonitored access to a maritime security zone, they would be required, like all individuals, to obtain an MSIC and undergo the required background check. The decision to issue a maritime crew visa already considers the individual's criminal history as a security assessment before the visa is issued. For most MCV holders, unmonitored access to a maritime security zone occurs only to transit the onshore zones to access the ship. Generally they do not access the security zone unescorted. The duplication of these processes is simply unnecessary and unlikely to provide any tangible benefits to increase the security of our ports and reduce organised crime groups exploiting weaknesses in the aviation and maritime security identification card schemes.

When Senator Keneally spoke on this in 18 February this year, she said:

… this government has done nothing to ensure that these foreign workers are subject to robust background checking.

And she said that this legislation would:

… level the playing field to make sure that foreign workers are subject to the same kinds of background checks that hardworking Australians face …

However, this is simply not true. Labor is deliberately seeking to create confusion around the issue. As noted earlier, when an applicant applies for a maritime crew visa they are required to meet prescribed public interest criteria relating to character, including criminal history and national security. Similarly, international crew who require unmonitored access to maritime security zones are already required to obtain an MSIC card, and anyone seeking to have unescorted access to secure areas of our ports must have an ASIC or an MSIC. There is no government requirement for Australian seafarers to hold an MSIC. Not only are foreign workers who apply for a maritime crew visa subject to background checking but this government is going one step further under proposed changes to the coastal trading act. All crew on cruise ships under a coastal trading licence will need to meet MSIC requirements. This will incorporate everyone working on the ship, including those working in the kitchen and those working behind the bar, even though they are not accessing the maritime security zone.

The criminal history check and security assessment elements that are required by the bill set out by Senator Keneally are simply not appropriate for international maritime crew and may delay the granting of maritime crew visas. The last thing our maritime industry needs is extended delays while crew wait for visas to be approved. Further delays could be expected if this bill is supported as there are no draft regulations to support it, meaning that the department would have to prepare new regulations to be made under the Migration Act.

When it comes to ensuring the integrity of our ports of entry and the safety and security of Australians, we can't afford delay. The Morrison government has provided targeted, effective measures to address what is a very serious issue. The Labor Party want to delay this action and put the integrity of our ports at risk. One must ask: what is Labor actually proposing with this bill? Is it that we make applicants undergo unnecessary processes and procedures? Is it that we increase the financial burden of the maritime crew visa scheme? Is it that we unnecessarily increase the load taken by our departments? This bill will only cause uncertainty and delay for industry and government, and, when it comes to our borders, any level of uncertainty and delay is unacceptable. Our border security is too important to get wrong. These amendments are not being put forward to protect Australians, and anyone wishing to ensure that our borders are safe and secure should not support this bill.