Tony Abbott denies ‘sack the Aussies’ advice to cruise line

A CRUISE line is standing by accusations it was advised to sack Australian staff because they were too expensive, despite denials from Tony Abbott.

A CRUISE line is standing by accusations it was advised to sack Australian staff because they were too expensive, despite denials from Prime Minister Tony Abbott.

The PM today branded “just not true” the statement by West Australia’s North Star Cruises that it twice was told by bureaucrats to hire foreign workers.

But a company spokesman today said, “I do not tell lies.”

The claims were revealed in an August 17 company submission to a Senate inquiry into legislation which would allow foreign shipping operators into Australian coastal services without them paying Australian wages.

And the company, furious at being disbelieved, is prepared to repeat its accusations at a Senate hearing Monday.

Labor’s transport spokesman Anthony Albanese said today the proposed law would hurt local shippers.

“Australian industry could not survive if next to it, its competitors could pay foreign wages in Australia. That’s what we’re talking about here, and there are consequences,” Mr Albanese said.

Transport Minister Warren Truss has not commented, but his department has denied the advice was given.

“The Australian Government is working to build a more competitive and efficient shipping industry and is committed to reforming coastal shipping,” it said in a statement.

The Prime Minister was in Western Australia helping Liberals in the Canning by-election campaign when the issue broke today.

Mr Abbott told reporters the aim was to “restore the situation which operated under the Howard government and end Labor’s job-destroying, cost-inflating, coastal shipping regime”.

“Let me just point out, as a result of changes that the former government made to the rules governing Australian coastal shipping, the Australian coastal shipping fleet halved from 30 ships to 15 ships under Labor’s watch,” he said.

Asked if the advice had been given by bureaucrats, Mr Abbott said it was just jot true.

However, Bill Milby, a spokesman for the luxury cruise line today stood by the accusation he made in the Senate submission and recalled a conversation with a senior Transport Department official in May.

“She said to me there and then, ‘Well we are in an international environment so we have to learn to compete on the international market. Maybe you should look at deregistering your Australian ship’ — in other words taking it off the shipping register — ‘and perhaps put on a foreign flag which will allow you to put on a foreign crew which will reduce your wages cost’,” he told ABC radio in Perth.

“I was staggered. I was really surprised it was somebody from Canberra representing this department telling me that.”

The advice clashes with assurances from Prime Minister Abbott that the Government is protecting and growing employment as an priority, and feeds into Labor’s concerns the China Free Trade Agreement could give Australian jobs to Chinese workers.

At issue is the Shipping Legislation Amendment Bill, the Government proposal to allow foreign lines to deliver in Australia and then work on domestic coastal runs without paying crews Australian rates.

The dispensation, aimed at reducing freight costs for business, has endangered Australian shipping companies which still have to pay by Australian standards.

The written submission by Mr Milby of North Star Cruises to the rural and regional affairs committee said he had approached department officials on May 20 to warn the law change would make his company uncompetitive.

Mr Milby said one official had advised him to “consider taking our ship True North off the Australian Shipping register, re-register the ship in a suitable foreign country, lay off our Australian crew and hire a cheaper foreign crew’’.

He said then advice was repeated at a June 16 meeting in Canberra. The company had been able to grow from four Kimberley cruises in 1987 to19 in 2014, increasing its permanent Australian workforce from three to 50.

In a separate submission Peter Cadwalladere, chairman of the Australian-owned Intercontinental Shipping Group said the Government laws would make his company “completely uncompetitive”.

Regional Development Minister band Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss has defended the proposed laws as a means of saving Australian businesses from fewer shipping options and higher costs.

The Government argues the volume of freight is expected to grow nationally by 80 per cent by 2030 but the boost in coastal shipping will only be 15 per cent.

This would disadvantage businesses relying on ships.