Suspected murders of three men on board the Panamanian flagged Sage Sagittarius in 2012 yesterday sparked a Senate inquiry into Flag of Convenience shipping in Australia.
Already under scrutiny of a coronial inquest, the Sage Sagittarius starred in an Australian Broadcasting Commission investigative report “Ship of Death” last month. ABC Television reported on gun running, intimidation, bullying and the mysterious deaths of three men on board the ship all in the spate of six weeks.
The International Transport Workers’ Federation has since seized on the ABC report calling for a parliament inquiry. It comes as the government moves to end cabotage restrictions on foreign ships trading on the coast.
Shipping Australia Ltd (SAL) CEO Rod Nairn today dismissed the move as a union gambit to delay change. SAL represents foreign shipping interests in Australia.
Suspected murders of three men on board the Panamanian-flagged Sage Sagittarius in 2012 have sparked a Senate inquiry into Flag of Convenience (FOC) shipping in Australia.
Already under the scrutiny of a coronial inquest, Sage Sagittarius starred in an Australian Broadcasting Commission investigative report “Ship of Death” in May. ABC Television reported on gun running, intimidation, bullying and the mysterious deaths of three men on board the ship all in the spate of six weeks.
Related news:Sage Sagittarius inquest turns political
The International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) has since seized on the ABC report, calling for a parliament inquiry. It comes as the government moves to end cabotage restrictions on foreign ships trading on the coast.
Shipping Australia Ltd (SAL) CEO Rod Nairn on 19 June dismissed the move as a union gambit to delay change. SAL represents foreign shipping interests in Australia.
“This is clearly a delaying tactic put together by the Maritime Union [masquerading as the ITF] and the Labor Party, designed at delaying any changes to coastal shipping regulations by referring a potentially unrelated shipping matter to a senate inquiry with a reporting date of 2016,” Nairn told IHS Maritime. “SAL would hope that this matter could be dealt with much more quickly.”
In a press statement on 18 June ITF chair and Maritime Union of Australia national secretary Paddy Crumlin said the ITF was critical of the conservative Australian government’s moves to deregulate the industry.
“FOC shipping is riddled with morally ambiguous and sometimes criminal practices, yet the Australian government wants to make ships of shame the new normal, rather than the extreme exception,” Crumlin said.
Submissions to the Senate Committee on the increasing use of so-called FOC shipping in Australia will close on 7 August.
It will examine Australia’s national security; fuel security; minimum employment law standards and marine environment; the general standard of FOC vessels trading to, from and around Australian ports; inspection of these vessels to ensure they are seaworthy; crew exploitation; and corruption of international seafarers on FOC ships. It will also examine the discrepancies between legal remedies available to international seafarers in state and territory jurisdictions and progress made since the 1992 Parliamentary Report Ships of Shame report.
This post was sourced from IHS Maritime 360: View the original article here.
