Torpedoed

More Australian ships have gone down under the Howard Government than the Japanese sank in World War II.

This is how MUA Assistant National Secretary Mick Doleman likes to sum up the damage done to the Australian merchant marine under the current government.

And it's not as far fetched as it sounds.

Since 1996 when the Coalition came to power 21 Australian ships have been lost out of a fleet of 66. They include the entire Australian National Lines fleet, the CSL Yarra, Torrens, the Destiny Queen, the Stolt, the Sante Marie, the Spirit of Tasmania III. They do not include the Ormison, the Kwawolka, the Goliath, the Cementco and the Alcem Calaca - all five of which have taken a hit in the past few weeks and all of which the union has battled to keep afloat (see Coastal Battle).

The Japanese can only boast removing 12 - the Millimumal, Macdhiu, Macumba, Nimbin, Zealandia, Wollongbar, Centaur, Iron Chieftain, Iron Crown, Iron Knight, Kowarra and Kalingo.

These days the battle lines have changed. Australia and Japan share a fleet of LNG tankers and it is the Howard Government that is regarded the greatest threat to Australian shipping.

In successive budgets the Coalition has invested billions in the AusLink national transport infrastructure scheme, with not one bob allocated to shipping.

What's more the government has overseen the rorting of the Navigation Act allowing foreign ships onto our coastal highways in place of Australian ships.

Asked why, former transport minister John Andrews simply said that Australia was "a shipping nation not a shipper nation".

His successor, Minister for Transport and Regional Services, Mark Vaile, was even more forthright. His answer at a recent forum, was 'shipping is not sexy'.

And so the carriage of 28 per cent of the nation's long distance transport task by sea transport where infrastructure cost is zero and carbon emissions the lowest of any other transport mode is regarded as the poor cousin of road and rail.

But that all changed in May when foreign shippers and shipowners got wind of the ALP policy to promote Australian flagged coastal shipping. The fallout made national headlines. At the same time union polling in the marginal electorates showed shipping could well be an election issue, with an overall majority of Australians polled saying foreign crew and ships should not carry our domestic goods on our coastal highways.

Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Transport De-Anne Kelly was forced to announce that shipping policy was under review.

"We're presently looking at this - the way in which we can grow coastal shipping - with a view to the needs of both Australian shipowners but also shippers," she told DCN Lloyds List weekly in May. Kelly said the government would seek views and opinions across the industry, including those of the MUA, and have a final policy framework next year.

That's if they get re-elected.