AUSTRALIAN SHIPPING
CALL FOR STRATEGIC FLEET TO RIDE OUT GLOBAL SHOCKWAVES
T
he global pandemic has exposed dangerous gaps in Australia’s supply chain and demonstrates the need for urgent reform of Australian shipping, Maritime Union National Secretary Paddy Crumlin told the public hearing of the Senate Standing Committee on Rural and Regional Affairs in September. “There’s nothing good about COVID,” said Crumlin. “But it has starkly demonstrated the abrogation of responsibility to regulate our critical shipping industry by state and particularly federal regulators.” The national secretary said this not only put Australia’s public health at risk, but also, in the longer run, national security and the economy. “Australia was caught unprepared for the COVID-19 pandemic,” he said. “This global crisis (is) highlighting the urgent need to reduce Australia’s dependency on foreign shipping in both domestic and international trade.” Crumlin stressed that in the postCOVID recovery phase our economic,
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“Ships are almost like the blood running through the arteries in your body.” – Blackburn
social and political futures depended on taking back the coastal supply chain and crewing our blue highway with Australian seafarers. Cabotage policy remains central to any reform, according to the union. Cabotage applies to over 100 countries in the world, it is not the exception to the rule; it is the rule. The key recommendation of the union submission was Australian seafarers crewing a core fleet of fuel tankers and large trading vessels carrying essential goods, both domestically and internationally. This was a platform Labor took to the federal election in 2018. Investing in shipping, said Crumlin, was like investing in port infrastructure or pipelines. “As the number of Australiancrewed vessels declines, not only are quality jobs lost, but our country is left vulnerable to global shocks that can disrupt maritime trade,” he said. These concerns were backed by Air Vice- Marshal John Blackburn (retired), Chair of the Institute for www.mua.org.au
