"Ships of shame" plan scuttled

The Australian Senate has carried out extensive modifications to a 
government Bill which, if approved, would have introduced conditions 
similar to those on board the infamous international "ships of shame".

The Bill, the Navigation Amendment (Employment of Seafarers) Bill 
1998 had the potential to endanger the Australian coastline and strip 
away basic working protection and rights for seafaring workers employed in 
coastal shipping.

In opposing the Bill, Senator Kim Carr (ALP) declared that: "this Bill is 
really about replacing Australian workers on Australian ships. It is about 
the reduction in the qualification of persons, it is about the reduction of 
wages and conditions for workers on ships."

Senator Collins (ALP) said the Bill: "ignored the very real dangers faced 
by seafarers (and the) threat to our coastline, environment and tourist 
industry."

If the Bill had been passed as proposed by the government, Australian 
seafaring workers would have lost their entitlements to sick leave while 
ashore, and they could have been forced to work for years at sea without a 
break.

The Bill would have removed restrictions on foreign crews handling cargo or 
ballast in port, the independent policing of seafarers' accreditation, and 
the prohibition of the demanding or receiving of fees for employment.

The Act as currently formulated prevents poorly trained workers from buying 
forged qualifications and jobs.

However, the proposed amendments would have removed these restrictions and 
could have resulted in the reintroduction of employment provisions like the 
notorious "bull" system of the Australian wharves, which was outlawed in 
the 1950s.

As Democrats Senator Brian Greig commented, on presentation of the proposed 
amendments: "the move to allow persons to demand or receive fees for 
providing seafarers with employment results in the payment of bribes by 
seafarers to secure employment on ships".

The implementation of the Bill would also have posed a serious threat to 
the lives of crew members and the coastal marine environment.

The Bill would have set the scene for reducing the standard of the ships 
themselves to those of the "ships of shame", which have a horrifying 
history of losses at sea, with appalling (and usually unreported) loss of 
life and widespread pollution.

The Government's attempt to introduce the Bill has made its intentions with 
regard to the Australian shipping industry clear.

ALP Senator Kerry O'Brien described the Government's shipping policy as 
"laughable" and declared that the Government had done nothing to promote 
shipping in Australia.

He challenged the Howard Government to release a recent report that 
recommended industry funding and the retention of the national merchant 
fleet on economic and defence grounds.

Not surprisingly, the Government has reacted angrily to the Senate's 
rejection of the Bill.

The Federal Minister for Regional Services, Territories and Local 
Government, Senator Ian MacDonald, declared angrily that the opposition 
Senators had "completely gutted" the Bill, and that they were "subservient 
to the unions".

The union concerned had a different view of the outcome. Maritime Union of 
Australia National Secretary John Coombs said the result constituted "yet 
another massive defeat for Workplace Relations Minister Peter Reith (the 
chief architect of the Bill), a victory for human rights, a victory for the 
labour movement and a victory for all those genuinely interested in 
protecting Australia's fragile marine environment."