The Maritime Union of Australia and the Australian Maritime Officers Union has launched legal action in the Federal Court to have the hundreds of foreign workers employed in offshore projects declared illegal. From The Canberra Times:
[The Union] has argued a Ministerial Determination used by the Assistant Minister for Immigration and Border Protection Minister, Michaelia Cash, last year granting work rights to the employees is unlawful.
The determination, which followed one day after the Senate rejected proposed government regulations, was used to make it easier for oil and gas projects to attract and hire overseas labour.
The unions had opposed the widespread use of overseas labour in the offshore sector and secured support from the former Labor government to require employers to prove they had made all reasonable efforts to find Australian employees first.
If successful, the union appeal could see more than 400 employees currently engaged in laying undersea pipes and in the building and maintenance of other structures, who are not Australian citizens, forced to down tools.
While I obviously don’t know the particulars in this case, the Abbott Government’s penchant for foreign workers at a time when Australian unemployment is at 12-year highs, and underemployment is at record levels, is worrying.
Wherever possible, local local labour should be hired first. Otherwise, the economic benefits from these projects is greatly diminished, with most of the spoils flowing offshore.
