Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Infrastructure and Transport) Share this | Hansard source

The figures that the Deputy Prime Minister just used are absolute nonsense. To suggest that that decline has occurred between the previous act coming into practice and today is just not true. The minister did not respond. He spoke about page 80. Page 80 makes it very clear. It says:

The primary driver of higher costs was seen to be high Australian wage costs relative to foreign vessel wage costs.

That is just like the 88 per cent save—as shown in the RIS—being about the difference between Australian wages and foreign wages. That is what is actually there at page 80. But I would ask the minister really specifically—and this comes to the crux of the matter, and he must be able to answer—why he has removed any definition of 'Australian nationality' from the act.

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