Shipping out: Unions, industry, defence analysts concerned by shrinking merchant fleet

Professor Bateman said more privately owned oil tankers and cargo ships would give the Australian Government the option to commandeer those vessels in times of national emergency."The Department of Defence had to charter something like 27 cargo vessels to carry Australian stores and troops from Australia across to East Timor," Professor Bateman told The Business.

The Coalition argues Labor's proposal would likely see costs passed on to the minerals, agriculture and construction sectors. It currently has a bill amendment stalled in the Senate which it argued would reduce existing regulatory burdens to make shipping a more viable form of transport.Until election day, at the very least, the fate of the thousands of people dependent on Australia's merchant fleet remains very much at sea.

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