Cabotage and Industrial Relations

Australian shipping operates under a system of registration, licences and permits along its coast. Under Australian industrial legislation, Australian workers employed on Australian owned/operated/registered vessels working in Australia have always been covered by Australian legislation. However, foreign seafarers have always generally been exempt from Australian domestic legislation, and this was specifically set out in the Regulations to the Workplace Relations Act 1996. From 1 January 2010, this dynamic changed, with the Regulations to the Fair Work Act 2009 expressly stating that vessels operating under continuous voyage permits and those with 3 or more single voyage permits issued in a 12 month period are covered by the Fair Work Act. This includes, the National Employment Standards, the Australian Minimum Wage, and, after 1 January 2011, the conditions set out in Part B of the modern Seagoing Industry Award 2010.

This essentially means that foreign vessels operating on the Australian coast continuously or on frequent occasions in a relatively short period of time will be covered by Australian industrial law, and be obliged to provide Australian minimum wages and conditions for the duration of that vessel’s Australian journey.