The Australian Federal Government has received backlash from unions after it was revealed that it granted fifty eight foreign seafarers COVID-19 exemptions allowing them to fly to Australia and work on coastal trading vessels despite local workers being available to do the work.
The Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) expressed its disappointment towards the Government that it granted exemptions allowing foreign crews from COVID hotspots to take these jobs.
MUA Assistant National Secretary Warren Smith, said the most recent Australian-crewed vessels taken out of the coastal trade by CSL Australia, the CSL Whyalla, had gone into layup in Indonesia just last month, adding that
The crew from the CSL Whyalla now face an uncertain future when they could have easily been redeployed on other vessels CSL operates around the Australian coast. The Morrison government is actively supporting the systematic removal of Aussie seafarers from the coastal trade, rubber stamping the temporary licenses that are destroying our domestic shipping industry.
The Union asks the government to explain why CSL was granted permission to fly these seafarers from a COVID hotspot into Australia to work on coastal trading vessels when local seafarers were available to fill these jobs. Rather than undertake the costly and risky recruitment of workers from overseas, the federal government should have rejected these travel exemptions and instead required CSL to hire the highly skilled Australian seafarers who are ready and willing to undertake this work, the Union added.
They concluded that the current crew change crisis could have been resolved in Australia, if these crews were relieved by Australian workers.
