National Secretary Bob Nanva spoke up against the impacts of the Federal Government’s coastal shipping reforms at the ALP National Conference.

Bob said that Australian jobs across the transport and logistics supply chain were at risk if overseas flag of convenience vessels were allowed to take a larger slice of Australia’s coastal shipping trade.

Under the proposed laws, ships from countries like Liberia (with workers on third world pay and conditions, and not paying Australian taxes) would be able to sail between Australian ports for up to six months of the year, wiping out Australia’s domestic coastal shipping industry and taking freight way from interstate rail services.

The RTBU has also made a submission to the Senate Inquiry into the new laws, arguing that at least 300 direct jobs in intermodal freight rail are threatened by the new laws.

Analysis shows that over 1,000 direct jobs are at risk in the rail industry by 2034 if Tony Abbott gets his way.