Carol Brown (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Tourism) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to make a contribution on this important piece of legislation that was introduced by Senator Keneally, the Migration Amendment (New Maritime Crew Visas) Bill 2020. In doing so, I acknowledge, sadly, that this debate would not be necessary if the federal government were doing its job. For eight long years this government has refused to act and close one of the gaping holes in our national security regime. They have ignored advice from their own officials about the growing security risks posed by foreign crews working on flag-of-convenience vessels off Australian shores. What makes this situation even more deplorable is that, at the same time, this government is refusing to let our own citizens return to Australia. It refuses to let Australian citizens leave the country without permission, and it recently threatened to jail Australian citizens attempting to return home from India, but if you are a foreign crew member working on a flag-of-convenience vessel you are currently issued with a visa for entry into Australia within 24 hours, with no security checks. Compare this to the security checks that Australian seafarers and maritime workers are forced to endure, waiting for up to three months for their maritime security identification card, MSIC. The bill that we are debating here today is aimed at fixing the hole in our national security regime and protecting Australia's borders and the Australian people.

In 2018-19, authorities estimated that 72 per cent of cocaine, 83 per cent of cannabis and 72 per cent of amphetamines seized that year had come through our maritime ports, yet this government still refuses to conduct proper background security checks on foreign crew entering our ports. In July 2016, the International Transport Workers Federation alerted Australian Border Force officers to the berthing of a flag-of-convenience ship at the port of Gladstone. The vessel was crewed by Syrian nationals, but only one of them—only one—had a maritime crew visa, and that one visa had been issued for an earlier voyage. In other words, the ship had been permitted to dock without the necessary visas in place. After the ITF's intervention, all of the Syrian crew were issued with visas and the right to unescorted shore leave. Prior to the ship's arrival no-one knew who was on board or what, if any, security risk they posed.

This is not an isolated example. The ITF presented evidence to the Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport Committee of 10 vessels that had been in violation of Australia's temporary licensing arrangements. When officials from the department of infrastructure were asked about these breaches, they confirmed that they do not have officers on the ground to ensure that foreign flagged ships are complying with their temporary licence obligations. The department has also confirmed that they have detected only five breaches of temporary licences since they were introduced almost 10 years ago in 2012. This simply isn't good enough. It seems that the ITF is better at detecting breaches of the current licensing regime than government agencies. Counterterrorism and other agencies have continually identified the potential exploitation of people with access to the secure areas of our port as a risk, but the government has repeatedly failed to act.

In 2017, the Department of Immigration and Border Protection, as it was then, appeared before the Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport Committee and gave evidence that flag-of-convenience ships may have been used in a range of illegal activities including illegal exploitation of natural resources, illegal activity in protected areas, people-smuggling, and facilitating prohibited imports and exports. What did the government do when confronted with this evidence over four years ago? Nothing! This government did nothing. The departments also raised their concern about the impact of reduced transparency and secrecy surrounding complex financial and ownership arrangements of the flag-of-convenience vessels. A series of serious border security incidents and the repeated concerns from government departments and agencies should have rung alarm bells throughout the government and prompted swift action. That's what should have happened: it should have rung alarm bells and it should have prompted swift action. Instead, the government's only course of action to date has been to tighten up the requirements on hardworking Australian seafarers and maritime workers.

As the situation currently stands, foreign crew can apply online for a maritime crew visa about 24 hours prior to arriving in an Australian port. In fact, it is the usual practice for the ship's operator or a crewing agent to lodge a bulk application as the ship approaches Australia. There are no face-to-photo checks and no background checks and the visas are issued very quickly. We therefore have very little knowledge of these people arriving in Australia. In pre-COVID times, foreign crews would automatically be eligible for shore leave on arrival. This often involved the crew members being bussed from the bottom of the gangways to the entry gates of the port. They were then free to roam wherever they wished throughout Australia with no meaningful checks and no restrictions: 'Off you go.' As recently as during this year, two crew members from a Panama flagged ship escaped along the foreshore in Geelong. Earlier this year, Senator Seselja was forced to confirm that the Port of Geelong is a secure area and that all people in the zone are required to have an MSIC or be escorted by an MSIC holder. Yet, somehow, at 2 am on a Saturday morning, two sailors were able to creep down the gangway and set off and disappear into the night.

As far back as 2015, alarm bells should have been ringing throughout the government. It was that year that the case of Captain Salas came to the authorities' and the Senate's attention. Captain Salas was provided with a maritime crew visa in 2015 and again in 2016, despite the fact that he was being investigated by the New South Wales Coroner over three highly suspicious deaths as far back as 2012. Captain Salas had given sworn evidence that he had, at the very least, assaulted a crew member and that he facilitated the purchase of guns. Yet, with 24 hours notice, Captain Salas was able to be issued with a maritime crew visa and was free to enter Australian waters and Australian ports. Again, there were no background checks done as are required for Australian workers. I know that it sounds like it just could not be true that someone who had given sworn evidence that he had assaulted a crew member and had facilitated the purchase of guns would be able to be issued with a maritime crew visa and be free to enter Australia, but it is true. That's exactly what happened. There were no background checks.

Australian workers are required to undergo character tests and background tests, but none of that is required for foreign workers. No character tests and no criminal record checks were carried out. Captain Salas, who had given sworn evidence of committing a crime, was allowed access to our ports. These lax visa arrangements are also in place for crew carrying highly dangerous cargo into and out of Australia and around our coast. Goods like weapons-grade ammonia nitrate is carried into and out of Australian ports on flag of convenience vessels, crewed by workers who are granted visas with 24 hours notice.

If this government isn't satisfied by the Australian evidence of the risks and danger, there's plenty of international evidence it can look to. In the past, some 30,000 rocket grenades were found on a flag of convenience ship operated by a North Korean crew in Cambodian waters. Alarming as this is, there is nothing in the current regime that would stop this ship's crew from being granted a maritime crew visa and access to Australian ports. In 2002, Tonga shut down its use of flag of convenience vessels when it was discovered that one of the vessels was owned by al-Qaeda and that the vessels were being used for transporting weapons, ammunition and crew to Europe.

Current maritime crew visas aren't used solely for vessels carrying our imports and transporting our exports; they're also issued to crews of flag of convenience ships that move domestic cargo between Australian ports under temporary licence issued under the current Coastal Trading Act. In 2019, there were eight ships used by Rio Tinto to regularly trade in Queensland waters. Four of the vessels had Australian crew who were all required to have an MSIC. The other four vessels all had foreign crew with no extensive background and security checks. Instead, they were required to have the online maritime crew visas. So eight ships were conducting the same commercial work but with much more onerous security requirements on those using Australian crew as opposed to the requirements for the foreign crew.

The purpose of the bill before us today is to address that situation. This bill aims to ensure that foreign crew are subject to proper security checks and background checks. This bill will bring the background check requirement for foreign crews on ships with temporary licences to engage in Australian coastal shipping into line with the background checks required for Australian seafarers and maritime workers. Senator Keneally's bill addresses the gaping hole in the Morrison government's border security regime by creating two categories of maritime crew visas. The bill creates a transit visa for international seafarers entering Australia on a continuing international voyage. It also creates a maritime crew visa for international seafarers engaged on ships and authorised to undertake Australian coastal shipping under a temporary licence. This new visa will require more rigorous background and security checks before it can be issued.

It is estimated that 20,000 foreign flagged ships with 200,000 foreign crew enter Australia each year. Each and every one of these crew are granted an online visa with as little as 24 hours notice. As I've said earlier, in pre-COVID times, once their online visa was granted and they arrived in an Australian port, these 20,000 crews were free to wander in Australia on shore leave.

In addition to this lax visa arrangement, some of these crews arrive at ports where there are no X-ray machines, no metal detectors and no bag checks. The Department of Home Affairs has also confirmed that, in some cases, up to 20 foreign seafarers can be left to walk through highly sensitive areas of ports where the only supervision and precaution is the use of security cameras.

This government has had eight long years to plug these gaping holes in our national security system, yet still they refuse to act. The government recently passed a number of changes to the domestic Maritime Security Identification Card to extend the security checks carried out on Australian seafarers and maritime workers but has done nothing to tighten up their online visa process for foreign seafarers. I congratulate Senator Keneally on bringing forward this sensible solution to a national security problem, and I urge colleagues to support the bill.