Labor Makes a Difference
By Maritime Union of Australia
Anyone who still believes the upcoming election is just a choice
between tweedle dum and tweedle dee, need only look at the state
of WA.
Since the defeat of the conservative Court Government this year,
the Labor Government has committed funding to state shipping,
undone the tender rort that was putting MUA seafarers in the towage
industry on the dole from Bunbury to Broome and publicly backed
our Australian shipping campaign.
Central to the new look government is Alannah MacTiernan, the
new minister for planning and infrastructure who has announced
she will revolutionise the way freight is moved around the country
by a renaissance of coastal shipping.
The potential is there - 13,000 kilometres of coastline providing
an all year round highway for the transportation of equipment
and supplies to outlying towns and the hydro carbon industry off
the northwest.
Many supply trucks are cut off during monsoons making shipping
a much more reliable transport option - Australian flagged ships.
It is MacTiernan (below) whom the MUA also has to thank for the
moratorium on exclusive licences for port services as well as
the outlawing of partnerships between towage companies and employees
promoted by Riverwijs.
"We don't have a hit list in terms of companies, but we will not
tolerate sham structures where employees are re-labelled as contractors
or partners and stripped of all employment entitlements and protections,"
she told Fairplay shipping magazine soon after her appointment.
Meanwhile the is branch campaigning in seven marginals for the
federal election.
See "Meet our Candidates" - a nationwide survey next MWJ.
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