Stuart Robert (Fadden, Liberal Party, Minister for Human Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I call on this parliament to support me as I seek to raise support to make changes to the Coastal Trading (Revitalising Australian Shipping) Act 2012 to exempt superyachts over 24 metres in length from the provisions of this act. New research commissioned by the Australian International Marine Export Group, or AIMEX, and supported by the Queensland Labor government has revealed that the superyacht sector contributed nearly $1.97 billion to the GDP of the national economy last year. That is a lot of coin. The AEC Group economic impact study also found that getting greater spend in the industry is being held back by restrictive federal government policy—policy set here in this place—that, if relaxed, could see the superyacht industry contribute an extra $1.12 billion to GDP by 2021. That is a total of over $3 billion.

Australia is well placed, with our marine maintenance capability and infrastructure, to become the market leader of the superyacht industry in the Asia-Pacific region. Allowing foreign flagged superyachts to charter in Australia is the single key to gaining this position. The Australian economy will gain considerable revenue and jobs that will flow from the repair and refit if foreign flagged superyachts are permitted to charter here. Excellent progress has been made towards superyacht charter, with visa requirements, taxation and maritime safety issues all being solved by this federal government. A solution to the current restrictive requirements for chartering under the coastal trading act is the final requirement to unlock this important opportunity to realise over $1 billion more in GDP. There is no requirement for financial investment by the government to allow superyachts to charter. There has already been considerable investment by the industry in infrastructure—shipyards and marinas. A change to regulation is all that is required to unlock this.

Currently, very few superyachts—less than 1.5 per cent globally—come to Australia, because of the current customs legislation and indeed the coastal shipping legislation, which makes charting in Australian waters unviable. A superyacht must, by law, be fully imported and 10 per cent of GST paid on its current value just to charter in Australian waters. Clearly any superyacht making itself available for charter is simply not going to do that.

The ability for foreign flagged superyachts to charter in Australia is the single biggest inhibitor of growth in the Australian superyacht industry and growth of this sector. It is holding back billions of dollars. That must change. Changes in legislation have occurred to allow foreign flagged superyacht charter in neighbouring countries, such as Tahiti, Fiji and New Zealand, and these countries have seen a 40 per cent increase in vessel visitation and an increase of average stay from 21 days to 136 days. New Zealand enjoyed an increase of 56 per cent in superyacht visitations in 2014-15, with new legislation permitting a vessel to stay for up to two years and conduct charters. By contrast, Cairns, for example, attracted only 46 superyachts in 2015, which was worth $22 million to the regional economy. The Superyacht Group Great Barrier Reef expects an increase in superyacht visitation similar to that experienced in these neighbouring countries if foreign flagged charter is permitted. It is a simple change, but it has a huge, huge impact. In 2015 the government submitted into parliament changes to the coastal shipping act that removed a range of the impediments to chartering, but unfortunately they were defeated in the Senate.

The solution is quite simple. The federal government needs to permit foreign flagged superyachts to charter in Australian waters to realise the substantial economic benefits. There are no current superyachts of this size available for charter, so it is not as if any domestic industry is being displaced. Accordingly, foreign flagged superyachts must be exempt under the coastal trading act. Currently foreign flagged cruise ships enjoy an exemption to the coastal trading act until 31 Dec 2017 that allows vessels to operate commercially in Australia. A substantially sized superyacht has the same domestic spend as a cruise ship with 2,000 passengers. The exemption for cruise ships has been very successful in attracting increased numbers of cruise ships to the region. The exemption would of course need to allow for superyachts to conduct maintenance and refit when not on charter, which of course is directly employing Australians.

I am committed to this sensible change, and I think all sensible people are. I look forward to the parliament joining me and supporting me in these sensible changes.

House adjourned at 20:00