IN AN ADDRESS
at a recent Shipping
Australia conference in Sydney,
Minister for Infrastructure and Regional
Development Warren Truss reaffirmed the
government’s commitment to forthcoming
coastal shipping reforms with the release
of his department’s
Australia Sea Freight
2012-13
research paper.
Speaking on the previous Labor
government’s ‘flawed, bureaucratic and
protectionist tiered licencing system’,
the minister noted that in just two years
under Labor’s
Coastal Trading Act 2012
the carrying capacity of Australia’s coastal
fleet dropped by 64 per cent.
“It is already clear that the operating costs
of Australian ships, and particularly labour
arrangements, are uncompetitive when
COASTAL SHIPPING REFORMS
for a globalised industry
compared with operating costs for foreign
ships,” says Minister Truss who is also
Deputy Prime Minister and Nationals leader.
“For example, Cristal Mining submitted
that the difference between using Australian
and foreign ships costs their business an
additional $5 million every year.”
Minister Truss pointed to Australia’s
workplace relations system as one area
impacting the sector’s competitiveness.
“We operate in a global arena.
Global businesses like shipping
need labour arrangements that are
competitive – both to attract the right
people and to ensure the business
remains afloat,” he says.
“Labor’s sop to the maritime
union is costing jobs and has the
potential to cost a lot more jobs in our
manufacturing industries, aluminium
and mineral sands processing, gypsum,
cement and sugar to name a few.”
Welcoming the Minister’s comments,
AMMA chief executive Steve Knott says
Australia’s ‘coastal highways’ should be a
competitive advantage for the nation, not
a major cost drain on local employers.
“More effective and efficient coastal
shipping regulation will better support
Australian businesses competing in the
global marketplace,” Knott says.
“It is another piece to the puzzle in
building a domestic policy framework
that will see yet-to-be-determined
resource projects approved and
developed in Australia.”
RP
RESOURCE
PEOPLE
SUMMER 2014-15
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ECONOMY & FINANCE
