Maritime security

Container security poster produced by the MUA

Government attempts to make Australia safe from terrorism are contradictory at best and dangerous at worst. Next to serving US interests at the expense of our own (just like they did with pharmaceuticals) the big issue that stands in the way of maritime security is the conservative government policy of de-regulation. Casual labour in our ports and cheap, foreign shipping on our shores is a security risk.

"There is no point doing ASIO and police checks on employees in our ports if employers are encouraged to bring in day labour and half the workforce is casual," said MUA National Secretary Paddy Crumlin.

"And there is even less point in two week long security checks on every Australian seafarer on Australian ships if they only do a one or two hour crew identity check on foreign crew, many of who stay in Australian waters for weeks, if not months, as guest workers in our coastal trade," he said.

But that's what the government policy entails.

What's more its policy of privatisation means the government has invested nothing in port security upgrades leaving that to the cash strapped port authorities. Maritime industry chiefs are begging for $100,000 million to improve port security, fix fences, install closed circuit television, employ more guards, and for x-raying shipping containers with only 7 per cent currently screened (Sydney Morning Herald, September 11)

The difference between the Howard Government policy on maritime security and the Labor one is stark.

After the bombing of the Jakarta Embassy Labor's National Security Committee which includes Mark Latham, Kim Beazley and Kevin Rudd, announced the Howard strategy was all wrong. Australia should commit its resources to working with our neighbours in our neighbourhood to close the maritime Gateway which al Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiyah are using -- the smuggling and pirate maritime routes between Mindanao in the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia. (See 'JI: the main game' next page)

"It is not only a problem because they've got training bases in the Southern Philippines that obviously form a core of their activities," said Latham. "It is also a problem in terms of the danger to the vast number of vessels that pass through those waters and the potential of a terrorist attack. An Australian contribution is vital."

Australia's multi-billion dollar LNG shipments pass through these waters.

On the home front Labor is committed to a national register of maritime workers a step that will promote a stable and well trained workforce and help that will eliminate casuals and contracting out of jobs. And it wants more workers in permanent jobs. It is also committed to tightening foreign ships gaining access to the Australian coast by closing loopholes used by shippers to get cheap foreign shipping and guest workers at the expense of Australian shipping and Australian seafarers.

Since July 1 a ship must provide the Department of Immigration with a crew list before entering Australian waters. This is checked against an alert list to ensure that the likes of Azahari Husin or Noordin Mohammed (the suspected masterminds of the Jakarta bombings) are not among them. But the likelihood of Husin or Mohammed using their real names is unlikely. And if they or their followers jump ship in Australia, unless the captain reports to the Australian Government we will be none the wiser.

The Coalition Government has refused to heed calls to extend checks on containers offloaded on our wharves to include empty transhipment boxes. These, the union argues, pose a greater threat than imported containers.

The International Transport Workers' Federation has called for port workers to check all containers.

John Howard says he puts security before all else. But in fact ideology is getting in the way of protecting Australia's maritime borders. John Howard is more committed to his economic and industrial policies of privatisation and casualisation than to national security.

The Howard Government won't listen to the Maritime Union for ideological reasons. But it also has a long record of refusing to heed warnings even from its own advisors.

A new report on terrorism from the government's own strategic policy think-tank accuses the Howard Government of "dangerous thinking". The Australian Strategic Policy Institute report was released just 24 hours after the attack on the Australian embassy in Jakarta. It describes as 'myth' the claim that terrorists target Australia for what we stand for, not what we do.

"That's a convenient argument for any government to make because it lets them off the hook for taking responsibility for their actions. But it is also dangerous thinking. If you believe that, it makes you more liable to make foreign policy decisions without consideration of the consequences."

The report also said that Australia still has no national counter terrorism strategy. (Australian Financial Review, Saturday, September 11)

Two months earlier similar criticism was levelled at the Howard Government over its lack of maritime policy. A joint parliamentary report into Australia's Maritime Strategy called for maritime policy to be part of a national security strategy.

It urged the government to urgently respond to the recommendations of the Independent Review into Australian Shipping tabled a year ago. This report stressed that international shipping was the weakest link in our national security system. (see MWJ, August/September)

At the ALP National Conference the party adopted the union maritime policy after long hard work by the mua delegation. If eected Mark Latham has committed to bringing the troops home from Iraq by Christmas. And since the Jakarta bombing he has promised to extend Australian maritime policy into the region and by restricting cheap, foreign shipping on our shores due to the security risk they pose.