I don't listen to election 'promises' more than anyone else, but I came upon this one in a round about way. Apparently, Anthony Albanese has promised to add 12 ships to our fleet to secure supplies to our nation if he is elected.

Stuart Ballantyne, Chairman of the Sea Transport Group, says that a nation of our size, needs around 50 overseas vessels and 150 coastal ships. We have 11 coastal ships.

Although our 60,000 kms of coastline puts us in the top seven of the world in coastline lengths, we have the smallest shipping fleet per unit of coastline in the world.

Obviously, Dr. Ballantyne is keen on what he calls the "Blue Highway''; he deplores that authorities are "myopically focused on road and rail" - they have ignored coastal shipping despite federal and state government ‘reviews’ over the last four decades "urging the opposite". He refers to the recent flooding that cut off the SA-WA railway line causing "huge logistics problems" that could have been alleviated by shipping, if we had it. The same goes for Adelaide-Alice Springs-Darwin railway and road.

The major logistics groups have been scrambling for solutions asking, ‘Do we have any ships available?’ No.

In Europe, the "‘Motorway of the Sea'’" program removed "60 percent of truck traffic off the coastal highways within the first two years." Ballantyne believes that a similar program here could "easily reduce by 50 per cent the appalling road deaths (1,300 p.a.), serious road accidents (18,000 p.a.)". road emissions pollution, road congestion, and road maintenance. The costs, including road maintenance, pollution etc amount to "$50 billion."

More ports would be needed. Which could be a problem given all the marine parks, and fish "needing" protection and other "nonsense" making development difficult for all but large, well heeled companies.

In 2019, Bill Shorten found it disgraceful that we had only 14 flagged ships. Scott Morrison dismissed any change as an attempt to protect union jobs.

1973 I was on my first cruise from Sydney to the reef. I met a couple cruising in the Whitsundays, & we traveled in company for a while. He was a radio operator on coastal shipping, & they would cruise in the long leave they had even then.

One day he was very glum. When asked he said he had just lost his job, & their lifestyle. Not immediately but with in a couple of years. He said the fool union had just managed to get a 6 month on/6 month off award. He was smart enough to know that was the end of small coastal shipping. He knew that only the big bulk freighters were profitable enough to afford the cost, & ships like he crewed would disappear, & they did.

Anthony Albanese has promised to add 12 ships to our fleet to secure supplies to our nation if he is elected.
ttbn,
Albanese is obviously forgetting that his maritime union friends are the ones responsible for the near extinction of Australian shipping.

Well put Indi,

The MWU is a classic case of unions killing business.

"Anthony Albanese has promised to add 12 ships to our fleet"

If that comes to pass will it then be argued for years where they will be built?

I put this in the elections section because it’s an election issue ; it's not about unions or who supposedly ruined the industry (30 years ago we had 100 coastal freighters operating). The situation is up there with our lack of fuel reserves, which after nearly decade in power, the Coalition has done nothing about. And it's not about ship building. That’s up to the owners. We need ships that can be commandeered during emergencies such as the recent flooding when road and rail is cut off.

So, as an election issue, Labor has an idea, the Coalition hasn't. Australia is not prepared for anything to go wrong.

I'm reminded of Donald Horne's Lucky Country. We still have the same sorts useless politicians running the country. But the luck that compensates for them is running out.