MUA media COVID

Queensland will become the first Australian jurisdiction to administer COVID vaccines to all international seafarers arriving in local ports, with a trial program commencing in the coming weeks aimed at reducing the risk of serious illness and community transmission.

Maritime Safety Queensland, working with QLD Health, has developed a vaccination program that will commence with high risk vessels, ships that visit Australian ports on a regular schedule, those that carry liquid fuels, and finally all other vessels arriving at QLD ports.

Lawyers for the Maritime Union of Australia have written to NT Health seeking the immediate release of 13 Darwin wharfies from quarantine after authorities in Western Australia found there was no evidence of COVID-19 infections on board the vessel that sparked their detention.

The correspondence to NT Chief Health Officer Dr Hugh Heggie followed the berthing of the Tacoma Trader in Port Hedland, where authorities from the WA Department of Health cleared the vessel to be worked after determining that there was no evidence COVID had ever been present on the vessel.

Legal action seeking the immediate release of 13 Darwin wharfies from the Howard Springs quarantine facility will be heard tomorrow, after COVID testing cleared all seafarers onboard the container ship at the centre of the alleged biosecurity breach at the Port of Darwin.

An interlocutory application by container terminal operator LINX, which employs the detained workers, will be heard at 10am tomorrow by Judge John Neill in the Northern Territory Local Court in Darwin.

Thirteen waterfront workers have been forced into 14-day mandatory quarantine following a COVID safety breach at the Port of Darwin involving a container ship that arrived from Singapore on Thursday.
Workers at the Linx terminal at East Arm Wharf who boarded the Tacoma Trader to unload containers have been forced into quarantine, with Northern Territory Police collecting six from the wharf, along with an additional seven who worked the previous night shift. All have been transported to the Howard Springs quarantine facility.

In an Australian-first, NSW Health will provide COVID-19 vaccinations to a small number of foreign seafarers onboard vessels that transport gas between Australian ports in an effort to reduce the risk of the virus entering the community.

The Maritime Union of Australia welcomed the initiative between NSW Health and NSW Ports, which will cover vessels that regularly visit the Port Botany Bulk Liquids Berth, but said the model must be rolled out nationally to reduce the risk of COVID transmission to waterfront workers.

After discussion with the Health Department Wharfies, Seafarers and Port Workers are able to access Phase 1a Pfizer vaccination rollout nationally using the link provided to local companies.

Unemployed seafarers will obviously not receive a letter advising them of there eligibility to access vaccine under borderworker/seaport. 

All Maritime workers should they wish to get the vaccine should register on the links in your state to access the Vaccine under phase 1A.

More information will be coming out from your branch in the next couple of days. 

The McGowan Government has left 9 international seafarers stranded on a vessel contaminated with COVID19 in the Port of Port Hedland.

Whilst the vessel is currently at anchor in Port Hedland, port service providers will continue to interact with the crew of the vessel as they bring the necessary supplies to crew stranded on board.

MUA Press Release 
 
The National Cabinet must use today’s meeting to establish “green lanes” to allow interstate travel by maritime workers, with hundreds currently unable to travel to work or get home after being at sea. 
 
The Maritime Union of Australia said travel restrictions and border closures between Australian states and territories had led to a situation where many Australian seafarers were isolated at sea, unable to get home to their families, with replacement crew members also unable to join the vessels.
 

 
 
 
National Secretary Paddy Crumlin wrote to the National response group on August 11 the letter says:
 
The inconsistent application of National Cabinet directions and the latest state border restrictions on movement for essential workers will have devastating consequences on the viability of transport operations and the interconnection of global and national trade.
 

 
The unions representatives on the ACTU executive are Christy Cain and Mich-Elle Myers. At the executive meeting on 29 july 2020 this resolution was passed to support the growing number of workers in maritime and resources workforces that are restricted by COVID-19 border closures. The reoslutions was supported by Dan Walton from the AWU.
You can read the reoslution Here