The Australian crew has been told that once the ship arrives it will be retired from service and they will be flown home, replaced with a foreign crew.
A political protest rally at berth 10 Cairns Port in support of the 36 Australian crew of the Hugli Spirit, who are being replaced by foreign crew on as little as $2 an hour. Defiant crew members disembark the Hugli Spirit to talk to supporters and media.
Maritime Union of Australia Queensland secretary Mick Carr said the company’s decision is not just a threat to the job security of the Hugli Spirit’s 36 crew members, but a potential threat to our economy and national security.
“We’ve only got three weeks supply of fuel in this country and that petrol, aviation fuel and diesel – it’s critical to running the country,” he said.
“The ongoing closure of refineries around Australia means we’re already 90 per cent reliant on imports and with the possible closure of Queensland’s two remaining refineries in the near future we could be 100 per cent reliant.
“More than half of Australia’s fuel comes through the Straits of Hormuz to Singapore and then through the narrow Straits of Malacca, an area already notorious for its piracy.
“You only need a polluted cargo to come here, you don’t necessarily need a direct act of terrorism, just the polluted fuel to come here and go into someone’s aircraft and that’s as good as terrorism.”
About 20 unionists met the crew at the wharves yesterday.
A political protest rally at berth 10 Cairns Port in support of the 36 Australian crew of the Hugli Spirit, who are being replaced by foreign crew on as little as $2 an hour. Defiant crew members disembark the Hugli Spirit to talk to supporters and media.
Maritime Union of Australia Queensland secretary Mick Carr said the company’s decision is not just a threat to the job security of the Hugli Spirit’s 36 crew members, but a potential threat to our economy and national security.
“We’ve only got three weeks supply of fuel in this country and that petrol, aviation fuel and diesel – it’s critical to running the country,” he said.
“The ongoing closure of refineries around Australia means we’re already 90 per cent reliant on imports and with the possible closure of Queensland’s two remaining refineries in the near future we could be 100 per cent reliant.
“More than half of Australia’s fuel comes through the Straits of Hormuz to Singapore and then through the narrow Straits of Malacca, an area already notorious for its piracy.
“You only need a polluted cargo to come here, you don’t necessarily need a direct act of terrorism, just the polluted fuel to come here and go into someone’s aircraft and that’s as good as terrorism.”
About 20 unionists met the crew at the wharves yesterday.
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