A cruise operator says government plans to open up Australia's coastline to more foreign-crewed, foreign-flagged vessels could threaten the Coalition's much-trumpeted border security policy.
Bill Milby, of North Star Cruises, made the claim on Wednesday as he responded to Prime Minister Tony Abbott's assertion that it was "just not true" that a federal bureaucrat twice advised North Star to re-register its ship overseas and take on a foreign crew if it wanted to survive in business.
"I take offence with Mr Abbott saying I'm not telling the truth," Mr Milby told Fairfax Media.
In the company's submission to a Senate review of a bill to amend the Coastal Shipping Act, Mr Milby, a 25-year veteran of the cruise industry, recounted how an official from Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss' Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development advised him to lay off Australian workers.
He said the advice came during a personal meeting with the official, which was witnessed by another departmental official, in Canberra on June 16.
"It is true, I don't tell lies, I was there. Tony Abbott couldn't know what was said during that meeting unless he was hiding behind the door," Mr Milby, whose company operates on the West Australian coast, said.
He said the proposed changes, which are supposed to make ship freight more competitive by allowing ships to use foreign crews paid at foreign wage rates for up to half the year, would have unintended consequences for Australia's strict border control.
The bill allows for vessels to pull up at virtually any point on the remote northern coastline.
Under the proposed legislation, ships can anchor at "harbour" but the definition of harbour includes estuaries, navigable rivers, creeks, channels, docks, piers and jetties, he said.
"I don't think Mr Abbott understands the legislation," Mr Milby said.
Speaking in Perth, Mr Abbott said the changes to the industry were warranted because Australia's fleet halved from 30 ships to 15 ships under Labor.
"Costs for Australian shipping increased by almost 65 per cent in the first year of Labor's changes, and the percentage of Australian freight carried by shipping in Labor's term of office, between 2007 and 2013, dropped from 27 per cent to 17 per cent," he said.
"Labor were absolutely catastrophic for coastal shipping and for jobs in coastal shipping."
Labor has dubbed the changes "WorkChoices on water".
According to submissions to the Senate standing committee on rural and regional affairs and transport, a number of resources-related and industrial companies back the changes.
But the owner of Intercontinental Shipping Group, Peter Cadwallader, a 50-year member of the Liberal Party, has warned that if the bill becomes law his bulk-carrier business will become "completely uncompetitive".
Mr Milby will appear as a witness at public hearings of the Senate inquiry on Monday.
