De-manning the fleet: federal government reforms and Australia's shipping debate

Australia's merchant fleet underwent a delayed response to the trends responsible for the attrition of the OECD fleets over the past decades. A combination of political factors and the heritage of protectionism led to centrally-directed and government-sponsored programmes of modernization. Essentially, compliance with the federal government's shipping policy was achieved through the linkage of reform to tax incentives and to the management of change by tripartite shipowner, government and trade union committees. This paper explores the basic pattern of the reforms, their costings, assessment and policy alternatives.