Brian Mitchell (Lyons, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

No, no. Don't mislead the House. Your coastal trading legislation is decimating Australia's maritime capability. What we on this side of the House did in 2012 was introduce legislation that allowed for temporary licences—temporary licences—which those opposite, in government, have absolutely rorted. As the shadow minister alluded to, we had a system which was a commonsense system whereby foreign vessels importing goods into this country could, upon bringing their goods in, move from one port to another port with the same crew—without having to replace the entire crew with Australians. They were from another country, they'd dropped off their cargo, and they could make another trip on a domestic route. That was a sensible allowance under the temporary licence. What those opposite have allowed is for foreign vessels to come in and then do business, almost exclusively, around the coastal trading routes. That's a big difference, and it's killed the maritime fleet in Australia.

I want to come briefly to an exceptional speech given at the Australian Naval Institute by Lieutenant Commander Desmond Woods. He gave this speech at the Australian merchant navy day of remembrance on 8 April this year. He spoke at some length about the contribution of the merchant fleet in wartime. It's often forgotten and neglected when we come to remember those who've sacrificed everything for the nation. We often forget the contribution of the merchant fleet, and the men and women of the fleet. Lieutenant Commander Woods said:

The Merchant Navy of the whole British Empire, which included the Australian Merchant Fleet, suffered proportionately the highest casualties of any of the allied services in the Second World War. Thirty thousand two hundred and forty eight British Empire merchant seamen who served at sea under the red ensign lost their lives doing so. The Australian Department of Veterans Affairs nominal roll records 3,500 Australian merchant seamen serving in World War II in Australian registered ships. The Australian War Memorial has placed the names of 845 of them, who are known to have died on war service during World War II, on the commemorative roll.

These are men, and perhaps some women, who didn't take up arms. They were serving in the merchant fleet during wartime and they died during their service. They were absolutely some of the bravest men and women this country has ever seen. We'll never know the true number of Australians who died, because there were many who served in British and international fleets and they're not included among those 845.

The contribution of the merchant fleet is often forgotten when, on Anzac Day and Remembrance Day, we come to teach schoolchildren about the contribution of our armed services. We often forget the merchant seamen. I'm pleased to say that the War Memorial and the official records don't forget them; they are appropriately recognised in official records. But, in the national consciousness, we often forget the contribution of our merchant seamen. They have made an incredible contribution to this country, and it must never be forgotten.

The lieutenant commander goes on to say:

This omission from the national recollection is most profoundly true of the period of the campaign in New Guinea in 1942. Those brutal battles on the Kokoda track were finally won because the Japanese army was cut off from re-supply and was starved into retreating. First Australian and later also American troops in the jungle and on the northern beaches at Gona and Buna were supplied with bread and bombs, bacon and bullets and fuel in vast quantities from the sea and were therefore able to take the fight back to the Japanese. New Guinea was won back from the enemy by the combination of the matchless courage and endurance of young soldiers and airman ashore and by the merchant seamen afloat who supplied them and the RAN who escorted those ships.

A combined national effort won that iconic battle that turned the tide in that great struggle. It wouldn't have happened without the contribution of the merchant fleet. But where is that merchant fleet today? If we were to have a conflict of that magnitude on our doorstep today, would we be able to resupply our troops from an Australian maritime merchant fleet? No, we would not.

That's why I support the shadow minister's second reading amendment. We must do all we can to rebuild our merchant fleet and support the men and women of Australia's maritime industry.

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