Shipping Australia Limited members strongly condemn the actions of unscrupulous ship operators who act with no regard to crew welfare.
Responding to an ITF report of crew abuse in bulk carrier C. Summit visiting MacKay, Shipping Australia CEO Rod Nairn, representing the majority of international shipping companies operating in Australia said, “Our members absolutely condemn the operations of these rogue ship operators who should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. They are not welcome in Australia.
“With nearly four thousand different ships visiting Australia each year, you do occasionally come across one of these cases, but fortunately they are few and far between.”
Commenting on the attempt by the ITF’s Mr Crumlin to link this case to the proposed amendments to Australia’s coastal shipping legislation, Mr Nairn said “This is just wrong, wrong in fact and wrong in principle. It makes the ITF look like a political party, rather than a supporter of workers’ rights.”
It appears that Mr Crumlin is using this distressing incident to mislead the public and promote his own political agenda. The ITF generally does an excellent job in looking out for crew welfare and we fully support them on this, but showing their hand in Australia’s domestic politics damages their credibility and independence.
The proposed shipping legislation amendments will require any ship wishing to operate around Australia’s coast to be licensed by the Australian Government. This means that their record of compliance with crew welfare, ship safety and environmental standards will be checked, and there will be more opportunities for them to be subject to Australia’s stringent Port State inspections when operating on the coast.
The proposed amendments under the Shipping Legislation Amendment Bill 2015 will actually help to exclude unscrupulous ship operators from Australia’s waters, as they would not dare to apply for a licence and increase their risk of being caught out.
