Lisa Chesters (Bendigo, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Workplace Relations) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It's quite sad, and maybe many of those opposite didn't notice this, but this week we've had quite a few seafarers out on the lawn at Parliament House. They're not there by choice. If they had a choice, they'd still be working. But, like so many other seafarers in our country, they've been sacked and replaced with a foreign crew, and their industry hasn't gone anywhere. They were involved in shipping coal. Now, looking out the window of a plane, you see the ships with coal lined up, whether you're in Queensland, Newcastle or South-East Asia. There is coal still being shipped from Australia to the rest of the world, yet the number of Australian seafarers that are getting the benefit of that is reducing.

They've been here this week raising this issue, calling on this government to do more for the shipping industry. When will this government step in and step up to help Australian seafarers? We are an island nation, and it is a disgrace that we don't have a strong, proud Australian seafaring workforce. It's time the government stopped looking after their big multinational mates in BHP and BlueScope and started working with workers like our seafarers. Like so many on the Labor side, I stand with these workers and commit to them to do all we can to rebuild a shipping industry in this country that employs Australian seafarers first.