Extract from The Guardian
Civil servants appear to contract deputy prime minister Warren Truss
by admitting they spoke about ‘reflagging option’ with shipping boss
Bill Milby.
Warren Truss, centre with treasurer Joe Hockey and prime minister Tony
Abbott at question time on Tuesday. Truss dismissed claims from cruise
operator Bill Milby that were later given creedence by an infrastructure
department official.
Photograph: Mike Bowers for the Guardian.
Australian government bureaucrats have admitted to a senate committee
they discussed options with cruise operator Bill Milby which could have
involved him hiring foreign crew under a foreign flag.
Milby, owners’ representative for North Star Cruises Australia (NSCA), has alleged bureaucrats from the Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development advised him he sack his Australian crew, hire foreign staff and reflag his vessels to remain competitive under the Coalition’s changes to coastal shipping.
Late on Monday, Milby named Judith Zielke, executive director, surface transport policy division and Michael Sutton, general manager, maritime and shipping branch as the officers who gave that advice. The department has previously denied such advice was provided to Milby.
He appeared before a senate committee reviewing the bill and restated his allegations, first contained in a submission on the effect on Australian tourism operators of the proposed changes.
Immediately afterwards, Zielke and Sutton appeared in front of the committee. Under sustained questioning from Heffernan, Zielke admitted she had discussed with Milby various options open to Australian ships under the shipping bill amendment.
“So [Milby] was telling the truth when he said that you’d discussed with him the option of going offshore etc?” asked Heffernan.
“Yes but I don’t believe I provided advice that he should take that option,” said Zielke.
Heffernan asked: “Does that mean no one is telling a lie?”
“I understand Mr Milby heard the conversation and reported what he understood the conversation to cover,” Zielke said.
Turning to Sutton, Heffernan said: “I don’t like what I just heard from the previous witness and I don’t give a rats who’s in government and who’s not and neither does this committee. Emphatically, are you going to deny the words [Milby] just said in the previous evidence?”
Sutton said: “We discussed the options available to all shipping operators, one of them being to retain their current operations ... one of them is the reflagging option.”
If the bill is passed, workers on non-Australian flagged vessels would only have to pay Australian wages and conditions if the ships trade in Australia for more than 183 days. It would also streamline requirements to a single shipping licence for boats operating between domestic ports.
The revelations appear to contradict Warren Truss, the infrastructure minister and deputy prime minister, who said in question time on Monday that the secretary of his department had assured him that the comments attributed to a department staff member were “inaccurate”.
“The comments attributed to a senior member of the staff of the department are inaccurate and do not reflect accurately the words of the conversation entered into by the staff member concerned,” said Truss.
“It is also important to note that, if the advice was given, it would in fact be inaccurate, because it is not possible under the proposed legislation before the parliament for an Australian cruise ship to have foreign crew and operate on the Australian coast for 12 months of the year.”
Milby has said cruise operators would not be able to compete with foreign crews, which are paid as much as one third of Australian wages. He has also said his ships can only effectively operate for a six-month tourist season in northern Australia.
After Milby was asked to name the bureaucrats, Labor senator Stephen Conroy suggested he write to the committee if he faced repercussions from the department.
Senator Bill Heffernan, chair of the committee, backed Conroy and said: “We don’t play games with that, we cut peoples heads off and we don’t care who they are.”
Zilke said some companies were looking at continuing paying Australian wages and keeping the current arrangements “no matter what the outcome”.
Earlier, Heffernan and the other senators quizzed Milby, who represents NSCA, which runs True North cruises in the Kimberly, which Heffernan noted cost $1,000 a night.
Conroy asked Milby what he thought of Tony Abbott and deputy prime minister Warren Truss both suggesting his claims were not true.
“I do not tell lies,” said Milby. “I don’t have an issue with the people who gave that advice because if you read the legislation and the explanatory memo, they were telling me the truth.
“I’m not trying to pick a fight with the prime minister or the deputy PM but I don’t like being told I am lying ... I take very strong offence at that.”
Labor’s transport spokesman Anthony Albanese called on Abbott and Truss to publicly apologise to Milby for questioning his honesty last week by insisting the explosive advice was never given.
“It is shameful that any government would openly canvass replacing the Australian flag with the white flag on Australian jobs,” said Albanese.
“But the real disgrace is that officials were simply providing an honest account of the real effect of Mr Abbott’s ideologically driven reform proposals, which will destroy the Australian shipping industry.
Albanese urged the government to drop its legislation, describing it as “Work Choices on Water”.
The committee also heard representatives of the Minerals Council of Australia, the Australian Aluminium Council and Australian Institute of Petroleum Ltd speak in favour of any changes which decreased the cost of freight.
Senator John Williams said between 2000 and 2012 the volume of freight increased by 57% across Australia and coastal shipping’s share of the freight 27 of total freight to 17%.
The committee heard there were 1,177 seafarers working in Australian coastal shipping in 2012.
Senator Jacqui Lambie asked Zielke if there had been an economic and social analysis of the outcome if those people lose their jobs as ships replace Australian crew.
Zielke said it had not been done because the regulatory impact statement assumed “they get other jobs”.
Dale Emmerton, national manager marine and terminals of Tasmanian shipping company Searoad, said that in the worst case scenario where the bill passed, “I assume SeaRoad would be forced to respond to that and seek to lower costs by employing foriegn crews.”
He said the government had not considered the cost of redundancies that would result of the legislation. Emmerton said SeaRoad employed between 60-70 seafarers and the cost of those redundancies were between $5m-$6m.
Milby, owners’ representative for North Star Cruises Australia (NSCA), has alleged bureaucrats from the Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development advised him he sack his Australian crew, hire foreign staff and reflag his vessels to remain competitive under the Coalition’s changes to coastal shipping.
Late on Monday, Milby named Judith Zielke, executive director, surface transport policy division and Michael Sutton, general manager, maritime and shipping branch as the officers who gave that advice. The department has previously denied such advice was provided to Milby.
He appeared before a senate committee reviewing the bill and restated his allegations, first contained in a submission on the effect on Australian tourism operators of the proposed changes.
Immediately afterwards, Zielke and Sutton appeared in front of the committee. Under sustained questioning from Heffernan, Zielke admitted she had discussed with Milby various options open to Australian ships under the shipping bill amendment.
“So [Milby] was telling the truth when he said that you’d discussed with him the option of going offshore etc?” asked Heffernan.
“Yes but I don’t believe I provided advice that he should take that option,” said Zielke.
Heffernan asked: “Does that mean no one is telling a lie?”
“I understand Mr Milby heard the conversation and reported what he understood the conversation to cover,” Zielke said.
Turning to Sutton, Heffernan said: “I don’t like what I just heard from the previous witness and I don’t give a rats who’s in government and who’s not and neither does this committee. Emphatically, are you going to deny the words [Milby] just said in the previous evidence?”
Sutton said: “We discussed the options available to all shipping operators, one of them being to retain their current operations ... one of them is the reflagging option.”
If the bill is passed, workers on non-Australian flagged vessels would only have to pay Australian wages and conditions if the ships trade in Australia for more than 183 days. It would also streamline requirements to a single shipping licence for boats operating between domestic ports.
The revelations appear to contradict Warren Truss, the infrastructure minister and deputy prime minister, who said in question time on Monday that the secretary of his department had assured him that the comments attributed to a department staff member were “inaccurate”.
“The comments attributed to a senior member of the staff of the department are inaccurate and do not reflect accurately the words of the conversation entered into by the staff member concerned,” said Truss.
“It is also important to note that, if the advice was given, it would in fact be inaccurate, because it is not possible under the proposed legislation before the parliament for an Australian cruise ship to have foreign crew and operate on the Australian coast for 12 months of the year.”
Milby has said cruise operators would not be able to compete with foreign crews, which are paid as much as one third of Australian wages. He has also said his ships can only effectively operate for a six-month tourist season in northern Australia.
After Milby was asked to name the bureaucrats, Labor senator Stephen Conroy suggested he write to the committee if he faced repercussions from the department.
Senator Bill Heffernan, chair of the committee, backed Conroy and said: “We don’t play games with that, we cut peoples heads off and we don’t care who they are.”
Zilke said some companies were looking at continuing paying Australian wages and keeping the current arrangements “no matter what the outcome”.
Earlier, Heffernan and the other senators quizzed Milby, who represents NSCA, which runs True North cruises in the Kimberly, which Heffernan noted cost $1,000 a night.
Conroy asked Milby what he thought of Tony Abbott and deputy prime minister Warren Truss both suggesting his claims were not true.
“I do not tell lies,” said Milby. “I don’t have an issue with the people who gave that advice because if you read the legislation and the explanatory memo, they were telling me the truth.
“I’m not trying to pick a fight with the prime minister or the deputy PM but I don’t like being told I am lying ... I take very strong offence at that.”
Labor’s transport spokesman Anthony Albanese called on Abbott and Truss to publicly apologise to Milby for questioning his honesty last week by insisting the explosive advice was never given.
“It is shameful that any government would openly canvass replacing the Australian flag with the white flag on Australian jobs,” said Albanese.
“But the real disgrace is that officials were simply providing an honest account of the real effect of Mr Abbott’s ideologically driven reform proposals, which will destroy the Australian shipping industry.
Albanese urged the government to drop its legislation, describing it as “Work Choices on Water”.
The committee also heard representatives of the Minerals Council of Australia, the Australian Aluminium Council and Australian Institute of Petroleum Ltd speak in favour of any changes which decreased the cost of freight.
Senator John Williams said between 2000 and 2012 the volume of freight increased by 57% across Australia and coastal shipping’s share of the freight 27 of total freight to 17%.
The committee heard there were 1,177 seafarers working in Australian coastal shipping in 2012.
Senator Jacqui Lambie asked Zielke if there had been an economic and social analysis of the outcome if those people lose their jobs as ships replace Australian crew.
Zielke said it had not been done because the regulatory impact statement assumed “they get other jobs”.
Dale Emmerton, national manager marine and terminals of Tasmanian shipping company Searoad, said that in the worst case scenario where the bill passed, “I assume SeaRoad would be forced to respond to that and seek to lower costs by employing foriegn crews.”
He said the government had not considered the cost of redundancies that would result of the legislation. Emmerton said SeaRoad employed between 60-70 seafarers and the cost of those redundancies were between $5m-$6m.
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