Glenn Sterle (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I wish to comment on the government response to the Rural, Regional Affairs and Transport References Committee report entitled Increasing use of so-called Flag of Convenience shipping in Australiaand move:

That the Senate take note of the document.

The government has finally come back with, let's say, a response. This inquiry had gone on for about 18 months. It was a very interesting inquiry by the Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport References Committee. Senator O'Sullivan and I found ourselves at many meetings on this important topic. It started with, I think, a report by Four Corners or one of those shows—it was a couple of years ago—on a ship, the Sage Sagittarius, an infamous ship, which was crewed by foreign workers. I say at the outset so that everyone is clear that, at every stage of this inquiry, I had nothing against foreign workers, but I get pretty cranky when they are brought in and exploited, and they replace Australian jobs. I make no apology for that—never have, never will. Aussies must come first. It's pretty simple. I'd love to hear that side agree with me. They won't. They all just look down at their iPads or their iPhones and hope to Christ that no-one was listening and I won't single them out, but I won't single them out because they're all just as guilty as each other.

The Sage Sagittarius had Captain Salas, the Filipino captain. He is notorious. He has admitted to being a gun runner. On his watch, there were two deaths at sea on this ship: Filipino seafarers. Then there was one death when the ship was unloading back in Japan. The owners of the ship had put in a detective working under—what do you call it?