Senate Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport Legislation Committee, , 7:16:12 to 7:21:02
Implementation of the Strategic Fleet Program and the transition to Australian crewing on ANL vessels.
Topics: Infrastructure, Workplace relations
Speakers: Paula Stagg, Senator Fatima Payman, Unknown Speaker, Senator Glenn Sterle, Interjection
still in outcome two, Senator Payman.
>> Thank you, chair. Uh, good afternoon. Um, my line of questioning is around the government strategic fleet program. Um and I guess either the minister or the department may answer these questions. Um just on the ANL CAOD which was ref flagged to Australia in May. Can I just have the following things confirmed? Um how many Australian seafarers have been recruited for the vessel? Uh I would love it if you could break them down by officers, engineers, deck crew and other positions.
>> Uh thank you Senator. If I could clarify, uh, ANL is going through the process of refflagging the vessel. So, it has not actually been refflged yet. It will be a crew of 13 on two swings, so essentially two full compliments. I don't have with me the breakdown of those positions. I can see if I can get that for you. Um, but in addition to the 13 crew, there will also be three training births on the vessel uh to uh to train additional seafarers. And just
to confirm that's 13 Australian crews. Um are there any foreign crew on the Kakakota?
>> Uh currently it is foreign crew. Once it's ref flagged to Australian there will be no foreign crew. It will be a fully Australian crude vessel.
>> Sorry. So did you say there was 13 Australian?
>> There will be once it's flagged Australian. It will be fully Australian crude. So the full complement for the COD is 13 plus the three trainees.
>> Okay. And so what percentage of the crew complement does the foreign crew represent?
>> Once the vessel is refflagged, it will be 0%.
>> No, right now
>> 100%.
>> 100%. Um, what enterprise agreement or award are the seafares contracted under?
>> So they're currently in the process of negotiating the enterprise bargain agreement between uh ANL and the Maritime Union of Australia. So that uh agreement is still under active negotiation.
>> And just sorry, back to the ref flagging. Uh do we have a timeline? Uh
so it's within 6 months of the award of the contract. So 6 months from the 1st of June.
>> 6 months from 1st of June this year. Um what is the estimated total cost of operating the vessel under the strategic fleet arrangement over the initial 5-year period?
>> So that uh information hasn't been released. The minister made a claim of public interest immunity over that information on the basis that release of that information uh would both uh disclose commercial information for ANL that's not uh known to their competitors but also would compromise the ability of the Commonwealth to negotiate future contracts uh so that information has not been released.
>> Okay. Um what financial penalties, remedies or termination rights apply if ANL fails to meet its contractual
milestones? So those are set out in the deed of standing offer that has been published. Um so uh it starts with a process of I guess uh seeking to remediate or to uh come to an agreement and to resolve issues amicably. Um but essentially there are a series of clauses and escalations that ultimately if the ANL does not meet its obligations under that contract then the contract may be terminated. Uh but there are series of notifications and pathways
was the ANL uh, Roa ever formally nominated, shortlisted, selected or approved for participation in the maritime strategic fleet pilot program?
>> So, ENL has proposed swapping the COD out with the Roaroua. Um, we are currently assessing that proposal from ENL. Um, so that is under active consideration at the moment. So it would replace the COD rather than be an
>> So they have been considered.
>> We are currently considering. Yes.
do we have a date on when that was first proposed to the department?
>> Uh I don't know if I have the date with me, Senator. I might need to take that on notice. I know it was formally proposed in September, but I don't have the specific date in front of me.
>> Do we know who proposed
>> ANL? So, so ANL uh regularly rotates vessels across their routes to maximize the utilization of their fleet and they have proposed the Roaroua um as a substitute vessel uh that would be I guess a more stable option for the strategic fleet um and also better aligns with our requirements.
Okay. And do we know when uh Anel Roarua would enter the strategic fleet?
>> It would be on the same timeline as the original
>> six months from 1st of June.
>> Yes.
>> Yeah. Okay. Uh great. I think that's all from me for now.