Sharon Claydon (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

As deputy chair of the Social Policy and Legal Affairs Committee, I wish to commend the chair and committee members for their work throughout this inquiry into crimes at sea. I especially want to acknowledge the secretariat's support. I also wish to acknowledge the work of the members of the committee in the previous parliament who held the initial inquiry into crimes at sea.

As noted by the chair, international cruises are an increasingly popular holiday choice for Australians, so popular in fact that, according to the Cruise Lines International Association, more than one million Australians took a cruise holiday in 2014—a surge of 20 per cent from 2013. This confirms Australia's position as the world's fastest growing source of cruise passengers and the fourth largest total market in the world.

As has been identified by this report and the earlier Troubled waters report, current safety and reporting regulations for this large and rapidly growing industry are clearly inadequate. Indeed this has been again been highlighted in recent weeks in the coronial inquest into the tragic deaths of Kristen Schroder and Paul Rossington, who lost their lives after going overboard from the Carnival Spirit in May 2013. It was revealed at the inquest that the pair were not reported missing until some 16 hours after they went overboard—and CCTV footage was not being monitored.

The Troubled waters report, tabled in 2013, found that while cruise safety has improved a great deal there are a number of areas in which safety practices should be improved. The report made 11 recommendations directed at preventing crimes at sea, caring for victims and making it easier for law enforcement agencies to investigate crimes at sea involving Australian citizens. The committee remains concerned that the government took so long to consider the initial report and that it did not adequately address the recommendations made. For an industry that is growing at as rapid a pace as the cruise industry is, to neglect the work and recommendations of Troubled waters for some 18 months is unacceptable.

As noted by the chair, the government agreed to only two of the committee's 11 recommendations. Three were not agreed to, a further two were noted and four were agreed to in principle. The committee reviewed the government's inadequate response and subsequently held a private hearing to put a series of questions to the government regarding recommendations not taken up. The hearing was also attended by representatives of the cruise industry and the International Cruise Victims Association. The committee continues to hold concerns about the adequacy of the government's response to its recommendations.

The committee maintains that the collection and publication of statistical information on crimes at sea is essential. Evidence must back up the industry's claims that cruise ships are comparatively safe, and Australians should have access to accurate, independent information on the risks of travel. It is also critical that cruise lines operating in Australia extend appropriate care to victims of crime and that they maintain proper crime scene management and reporting practices. There should be legal standards in relation to these matters and cruise lines should be denied access to our ports if they consistently put Australians at risk by failing to meet them.

Across two parliaments now, this committee has been urging industry to improve its safety practices. As the chair noted, while there have been signs of improvement I would suggest that, as is graphically demonstrated by the current coronial inquest into the two deaths at sea that I mentioned earlier in this report, it is very clear that much more needs to be done. The government should act to ensure that Australians have the information they need to make informed decisions about cruise safety and to ensure that cruise lines meet reasonable safety and reporting standards. I strongly urge the government to reconsider their response and objections to the recommendations made by this committee.

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