www.lloydslistaustralia.com.au National 5Lloyd’s List Australia November 19, 2015

A hostile Senate is likely to provedifficult to navigate for thefederal government as it seeks tooverhaul shipping laws, reportsDAVID SEXTONCommonwealth moves to overhaul coastalshipping laws face a massive challenge, withthe legislation likely to go down to the wirein the Senate.The Shipping Legislation Amendment Bill

(2015) passed the Lower House some timeago and is expected to go to the Senate at thenext sittings, probably Monday November 23at the earliest.The current law provides for four classes

of coastal shipping licence along with a pre-set procedure – involving decisions by gov-ernment bodies – as to how freight businesswill be allocated.The Amending Bill would remove the li-

censing system and replace it with one coastalshipping permit allowing unlimited freight car-riage for 12 months.In the 76-seat chamber, the Coalition gov-

ernment has 33 seats against the Labor Oppo-sition which has 25.

The Australian Greens have a further tenseats and a spokesman said they were opposedto the legislation, having recently talked ofthe government imposing “unnecessarychanges on a vital local industry that willcost Australian jobs”.“The Turnbull government’s changes will

give an unfair competitive advantage to for-eign-flagged vessels employing low-wagedcrews,” Greens transport spokesman Janet Ricetold Lloyd’s List Australia recently. “Stripping the current regulatory system will

also disadvantage local operators who havenot been considered in the economic impactstatement prepared for the legislation.”That means the government must obtain

the support of six of the remaining eight inde-pendent or minor/micro party Senators inorder to reach the 39 required votes to securepassage of the legislation.Of those eight, Family First’s Bob Day

and the Liberal Democrats’ David Leyonhjelmare most likely to come on board with thegovernment, being traditionally in favour oflibertarian free markets and a minimum ofstate economic involvement.This would take the number of those sup-

porting the legislation to 35 – still four votesshort.That’s when it gets tricky.Though at times critical of the government,

South Australia’s Nick Xenophon might besupportive, given his Liberal heritage.But he faces a tough choice, with South

Australia under pressure to maintain its manu-facturing base.Adelaide is a city with strong shipbuilding

links – it would be a brave move by SenatorXenophon to vote to change the 2012 laws,

given a theme of those laws was to rebuildAustralian shipping, with flow-on effects fordomestic shipbuilding.Independent Tasmanian Senator Jacqui Lam-

bie, formerly of the Palmer United Party, hasmade known her outright hostility to the changes,even as DP World Australia has said an enhancedBurnie container terminal development is con-ditional upon the legislation being passed.

“It's not going to come as a shock to youwhen I say that the Government can go tohell – I will never vote for their CoastShipping legislation,” Senator Lambie saidin a recent statement.“It’s a recipe to kill off the rest of Australian

maritime workers' jobs.

“And I’m not going to stand by and watchsilently, as Australian jobs are taken byoverseas workers.”This will grieve some in the maritime industry

who might argue a new Burnie terminal couldsee a substantial increase in shipping into theapple isle.Current PUP Senator, Dio Wang, had not

responded to requests for comment on thisissue at the time of publication.Independent Senator John Madigan of Victoria

is one unlikely to support the government,given his former connections with the DemocraticLabor Party, an entity that while opposed to

the ALP, also has its roots in protectionism andworkers’ rights.Back in September, (albeit before Prime

Minister Abbott was axed) Senator Madiganexpressed his concern about the legislation."Coastal shipping goes to the very heart of

our national security. I'm very concerned thatthe Government seems hell bent on doing tothe coastal shipping industry, our seafarers, thesame that they did to our automotive industry,”Senator Madigan said. Senator Ricky Muir of the Australian Motoring

Enthusiast Party from Victoria and former PUP-turned independent Senator Glenn Lazarus fromQueensland were approached for comment butwere still to respond at the time of publication.They will be ones to watch.Senator Lazarus has been particularly critical

of the federal government, but the Septemberleadership change may have sufficiently thawedrelations in order to off the government hopeof securing his support.Back in September Senator Muir expressed

concerns about the changes suggesting dereg-ulating the system and flooding the marketwith overseas workers and foreign ships.

Supporting the changesA Senate committee recently criticised the

current laws, but their report was largely madeup of government senators while the LaborParty, in any case, produced a dissenting report.

Shipping Australia has made plain its supportfor change.“The Shipping Legislation Amendment Bill

will allow international ships to provide com-petitive services in the domestic shipping mar-ket, this will unlock economic growth and de-liver clear benefits to Australian primary pro-ducers, manufacturers and consumers,” SALchief executive Rod Nairn told Lloyd’s ListAustralia recently.

“The Bill opens the way for more environ-mentally efficient domestic cargo movement,and will ease the load on our existing road andrail infrastructure, giving it the breathing spaceneeded for it to develop to meet the growinglandslide logistics demands of the future.”But although much can happen between

now and the day of the vote, indicationssuggest the government may have insufficientsupport on the day.Any delay in passing the legislation is also

likely to prove a blow to plans for an expandedBurnie container terminal, with DPW Australiachief corporate development officer Brian Gille-spie conceding it was “pretty significant”.“Quite clearly we can only build a terminal

if we think there’s going to be customers andour customers are the shipping lines,” Mr Gille-spie said recently.“At the moment they’re not really able to

go into Tasmania due to the current legislation.“We took a view about two years ago that

the gravity was shifting toward that legislationchanging.”

Coastal shipping laws faces troubled waters

BATTLE AHEAD: Deputy PM and architect ofthe Bill, Hon Warren Truss MP.

Photo: Jim Wilson

Photo: Shutterstock

IMPERATIVE: The Bill’s success may well flowon to that of the proposed Burnie containerterminal, says DPW Australia’s Brian Gillespie.

BENEFICIAL: Shipping Australia CEO, Rod Nairn,AM is a supporter of the proposed changes.

PASSIONATE: Tasmanian Senator, JacquiLambie has recently made clear her oppositionto the Bill.

Photo: Office of Jacqui Lambie

Photo: Jim Wilson

Photo: DP World