Spiralling costs and fears for companies hit by the dispute between DP World Australia and their docker employees saw Australia’s Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations Tony Burke launch an extraordinary attack on the Middle Eastern company.
The long-running dispute between the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) and DP World has seen the Australian economy take a more than A$1.34 billion hit, and the dispute is costing up to A$23 million a day, according to some economic models.
Speaking at a press conference on 18 January Tony Burke told reporters: “I’ve made clear to both groups today, that I have no intention of intervening. I’ve made clear that I have an expectation that they will reach agreement. I will say, I think Australians are sick to death of having highly profitable companies say everything is the fault of them having to pay their workforce the same as their competitors”.
The minister refused to intervene in the dispute preferring to bang heads together and demanding that the two sides negotiate a settlement to the long-running dispute, negotiations on a settlement began in early 2023.
“I met today with both DP World and with the Maritime Union… I have made it very clear that I expect the parties to be at the table, to be negotiating and to be resolving this,” said Burke.
The Minister, however, launched a personal attack on a senior manager of DP World Australia, understood to be DP World’s EVP Oceania Nicolaj Noes, a former Maersk Line head of operations in the Asia Pacific region, after he made recent threats “to shut down every single major port in Australia”.
However, the minister refused to say whether the port dispute was having a sustained effect on the Australian economy, a point which the carrier representative organisation Shipping Australia Limited (SAL) raised with the minister.
SAL said it found the minister’s failure to acknowledge the impact of the industrial action on the Australian economy surprising given that it had raised the issue with him by letter on two occasions.
“The first time [SAL wrote to the minister] was on 16 November 2024 when we summarised some key economic modelling and provided a range of references to publicly available reports. The second time was on 09 January 2024, when we repeated much of the content of the previous letter and also sent a copy of the economic modelling,” said a SAL statement.
The group added that it is disappointed that the minister said he will not intervene in the dispute between DPW and the union.
“We have heard from businesses that the Australian supply chain is at, or near, breaking point; that truck operators are worried they will have to close businesses; that fast-moving goods suppliers might get delisted by retailers; that exporters cannot export; that ocean carriers are experiencing ten days of delay or more; and that Australia’s international reputation is being tarnished,” added Shipping Australia Limited.
Mary Ann Evans
Correspondent at Large
