Labor Makes a Difference

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.