Australia shoots itself in the foot…

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Ausmarine editorial – November 2011

Yet another Australian government that busily promotes itself as clean, green and environmentally aware has shot itself in the foot by further penalising shipping, easily the world's cleanest and greenest means of transport.

The Gillard Labor government has just increased the already draconian penalties for ships causing pollution or damage to the marine environment ten-fold. Another strange example of a government that is seemingly determined to kill the geese that lay the golden eggs.

Why anyone would want to invest in coastal shipping in Australia is beyond me. Anyway, that self-same Gillard government has, in an attempt to make it look as though it is encouraging shipping, introduced some tax incentives and will establish an Australian International Shipping register.

Unfortunately, however, this piece of slavish international fashion following is unlikely to encourage any worthwhile investment in shipping in Australia. As always this clueless, clumsy government has failed to get to the root of the shipping investment drought.

Unless it tackles the root cause of the problem, which is labour costs and conditions, particularly the latter, all its good intentions will again come to naught.

… and New Zealand follows suit

New Zealand, similarly, is a country that could benefit enormously, both environmentally and economically, from moving much more of its domestic freight on coastal ships.

It suffers most of the same kinds of anti-shipping handicaps as Australia. Its government also has a severe case of sea-blindness, a virulent disease to which the Tasman Sea is no barrier. New Zealand also suffers from having shortsighted, selfish and very powerful and spoilt maritime unions.

Like Australia, it suffers very badly from having some populist and rabidly anti-shipping politicians and so-called Greens. As in Australia, the Green opposition to shipping is simply incomprehensible – they just don't seem to be able to get their heads around the obvious fact that shipping is the cleanest, greenest means of transport by far.

Struggling politicians everywhere love the opportunity to bash a foreigner over an environmental accident. It makes them look tough, decisive and concerned all in one high-profile package.

New Zealand's politicians have had a field day with the grounding of the Costamare container ship 'Rena'. Their outrageous, witch-hunting response is a close copy of that of their counterparts in Australia of late.

The 'Iron Baron' and the 'Pacific Adventurer' are two ships that come to my mind. Like the 'Rena', both ships were owned by highly reputable environmentally conscious companies. Like the 'Rena', both were involved in ACCIDENTS! Witch-hunting and headline-seeking politicians continually fail to understand that, so do their urgers among the Greens.

As we go to press the detailed facts of the 'Rena' grounding are still unknown but of course that has not prevented the witch hunters from demanding the severest retribution. That, unfortunately, is never the approach taken to those involved in road, rail or aviation accidents. Why only shipping?

Our witch-hunting politicians must change their mind sets. They need to start thinking of groundings as being just like road accidents. No-one runs his ship ashore deliberately except for safety reasons. This is just as no-one runs his truck into a wall or another truck deliberately.

There would hardly be a politician anywhere, even the most infallible of

the witch-hunters, who has not been involved in a road accident. How would they like it if in such cases they were automatically declared to be guilty and forced to prove their innocence.

Perhaps, if they could see things in that light, they would realise that

recent responses to shipping accidents on both sides of the Tasman have been grossly vindictive.

Criminalisation of seafarers and irrational condemnation of the shipping industry have become dangerous trends. They need to be rapidly reversed before shipping is drastically curtailed and massive environmental and economic damage occurs. Our politicians and Green leaders must be made to understand that accidents can happen to everyone – even them.

Neil Baird

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