Australian shipping at risk from Federal Government antipathy: Minister

2/04/04
A negative attitude by the Federal Government towards an Australian shipping industry was threatening the safety of Australian ports, Planning and Infrastructure Minister Alannah MacTiernan said today.
"We have a Federal Minister telling us to remove bicycle lockers from train stations to prevent terrorists, but allows tens of thousands of foreign seafarers into Australia each year without any visa check," Ms MacTiernan said.
"Despite the long established principle of reserving coastal trade for Australian credited ships, the Howard Government has systematically undermined it since coming to government."
Ms MacTiernan said under the Federal Navigation Act, foreign vessels could be given a permit to engage in the coastal trade.
Since 1996 there has been a marked increase in the number of single voyage permits for foreign flagged vessels and the tonnage carried by vessels operating under single voyage permits increased from 3.2 million tonnes per annum to 10 million tonnes - a rise of more than 300 per cent.
In addition, in 2002-03, 106 continuous voyage permits were issued, which lock away the trade from Australian shipping for a period of months.
"The Federal Government's policy of promoting foreign shipping has significant security implications," Ms MacTiernan said.
"Foreign seafarers working on the Australian coast are automatically bestowed entry rights with no vetting when their ship is assigned a single or continuous voyage permit.
"Any seafarer with terrorist intent would be freed of normal visa and passport checks and able to attack an Australian city or port."
Ms MacTiernan said in the first quarter of 2003-04, 234 foreign vessels and 6,000 foreign seafarers were engaged in carrying domestic freight on the Australian coast - all under the non-existent security arrangements demanded by the Federal Government.
"Any of these innocent cargoes such as fertiliser and diesel fuel have the potential to become the biggest bomb ever detonated in Australia in war or peace," she said.
"The flag of convenience vessel Henry Oldendorf, working under a single voyage permit, recently loaded a cargo of fertiliser in New South Wales bound for Victoria. The Henry Oldendorf has a crew of 21 seafarers - all unvetted - from seven different countries, some from the region named by the Federal Government as the 'arc of instability'.
"The potential for a vessel to be used as a bomb is not hypothetical. One of the worst accidents in maritime history occurred when the French vessel Grandcamp exploded while taking on fertiliser in the US port of Texas City in 1947. The city and surrounds were flattened and 600 people lost their lives and another 3,500 were injured."
Ms MacTiernan said it was extraordinary that the National Party and its Federal Transport Minister support policies designed to favour foreign over Australian jobs.
"I wonder how their constituents would feel if the local trucking company in the bush employed foreign and not Australian drivers," she said.
Minister's office: 9213 6400