Wednesday 2 September 2015

All-Aussie cruise line told to sack crew and hire foreigners

#expeditioncruising

Proudly all-Australian: North Star Cruises
According to a report in The Guardian, Australian expedition cruise line, North Star Cruises, have been told by a bureaucrat from the Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development to 'sack crew and hire foreigners' in order stay competitive.

This flies in the face of advice given under the previous government, where foreign-flagged vessels using majority foreign crew are required under cabotage laws to leave Australian waters when transiting between ports. Such laws are designed to protect domestic businesses from international operators governed by less stringent regulations - in this case payment and conditions of crew.

This argument came to the fore when Orion Expedition Cruises, billed as an Australian cruise company,  flew a Bahamanian flag and hired European and Filipino crew, thereby competing against Australian flagged companies (North Star Cruises and Coral Princess Cruises) on an unfair 'playing field.'

Read the full report here.




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