In the past months, Human Rights at Sea, along with in-country partners, has been pursuing its Maritime Levy Campaign in Australia.
This is focused on following-up on recent State-level success in New Zealand updating national legislation for all seafarer welfare centers to be sustainably funded through a dedicated maritime levy contribution.
Work to date has included outreach to Ministers and MPs at State and Federal level requesting a specific focus on this issue. It has further included having the topic placed on influential stakeholders’ agendas for Board discussion and subsequent action.
More specifically, HRAS has provided recipients with papers highlighting the precedent, process, and outcome of the change in the New Zealand 1994 Maritime Transport Act as of 1 July 2021 as both a legal precedent, and an effective call-to-arms on the matter.
This effort is being undertaken and achieved through policy and legislative changes to assure that seafarer and fisher welfare services in coastal states become sustainably run, without the need for almost total reliance on donations and philanthropic grants.
HRAS CEO, David Hammond, commented:
A $17 trillion US dollar industry with a work force the size of the combined populations of Adelaide and Newcastle is keeping global supply chains running, your choice of mobile phone and food on shelves, oil and gas in the refineries, and pandemic PPE in-stock. So why do organisations supporting seafarers and fishers have to often rely on donations to survive while providing such essential welfare support services?
Background story
In 2000, a Seafarers Welfare Forum was hosted in Melbourne by Stella Maris and the Mission to Seafarers and sponsored by the Australian Government Department of Transport and Regional Services. The Forum determined that the significant hurdle to improving seafarers’ welfare was a lack of funding.
It aso determined that funding the provision of services to meet the needs of seafarers was seen to be crucial. However, it was then perceived that there was resistance within the maritime industry to such funding initiatives.
The funding options proposed included:
- A levy on ships visiting ports
- Federal government contribution
- Levy on ship operators
- A wharfage fee
- User pays system, and/or an industry contribution
Until now, no action on any of these options has ever been taken.
At the June 2019 Australian Seafarers Welfare Council meeting, the Gladstone Mission to Seafarers Manager and Port Welfare Committee Chair advised ASWC members of the impending closure of the Gladstone Mission.
Despite the Mission being well-patronized and managed, they would be required to close their doors because of financial debt of almost $50,000 and require an additional $50,000 to remain open until the end of the year.
The Manager presented a business model which would see them open for the next three years, with additional Gladstone Port funding of $80,000 committed for the next six years. It was only through the 11th-hour, $100,000 donation from the Queensland Government that allowed the Mission to keep their doors open and able to realize their long-term funding model.
On this regard, the recent Thetius- Inmarsat report: “A Fair Future for Seafarers?” states:
Unfortunately, there are no easy answers to the question of funding services. Under MLC, member states who have ratified the convention should be responsible for ensuring that welfare facilities and services are provided in appropriate ports, and determine how they are to be financed. Unfortunately, these aspects to the convention are not mandatory, and very little has changed since its introduction
However, after a significant lobbying effort from international charities and the national seafarer welfare board, the New Zealand government announced an amendment to the Maritime Transport Act to fund seafarer centres.
By the middle of this year, government levies charged to visiting ships will be used to fund the ongoing development and operation of the ten seafarer centres in the country.
The days of seafarer welfare providers attempting to survive on donations and piece-meal grants are over … It is now time for those who profit from the global shipping industry to fairly give secured financial support to those organisations who have traditionally been directly involved in the essential role of helping assure the well-being of those at sea
HRAS concludes.
