Amid the coronavirus outbreak onboard the bulker Patricia Oldendorff, Maritime Union of Australia has a novel proposal for solving a crew change dilemma: replace the foreign crew with local Australian seafarers.
According to MUA, the McGowan Government has left 9 international seafarers stranded on the vessel contaminated with COVID-19.
In response to the outbreak onboard the bulker Patricia Oldendorff, which is currently anchored at Port Hedland, MUA urges the McGowan government to immediately act and reduce any further risk to the community, by providing these seafarers with the medical assistance they require.
The Government needs to facilitate bringing the infected crew ashore and into quarantine ensuring they all receive the necessary medical treatment.
…MUA noted.
Following the above situation, Christy Cain, the Secretary of the West Coast Branch of the Maritime Union of Australia says there’s an easy fix that will protect the people of Western Australia, the economy, and the crew of the Patricia Oldendorff.
At the moment, Western Australia has 100 unemployed seafarers available for immediate deployment.
The simple solution is to move the infected crew into quarantine, provide them with the necessary medical care, carry out a full clean and crew the vessel with local seafarers so we can immediately continue the export of Western Australia’s resources, an industry so critical to our nation’s economy during these troubling times.
Concluding, the MUA is presenting the Government with a solution to keep these people well, get them home safely, employ Australian workers and stop the further unnecessary spread of the virus.
