Aussie foreign ship cruise ban extended – why does the cruise sector appear to have such little influence in Canberra.

At the end of last week as a “lovely” Christmas present for the Aussie cruise sector and the thousands of workers and communities that depend on it, the Federal Government announced that the already virtually two year ban on foreign-flagged cruise ships will be extended until February 17 2022.

Health Minister Greg Hunt made the announcement claiming the new virus variant Omicron to be the reason, saying, “The extension of these arrangements made by the Governor-General was informed by specialist medical and epidemiological advice provided by the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee (AHPPC) and the Commonwealth Chief Medical Officer,” adding, “Continuation of these arrangement will allow the important measures currently in place to continue as the Government continues to reopen Australia and act decisively to respond to the emergence of the Omicron variant.”
What a truck load of government spin and gobbledegook!
Hunt also said, “The Government continues to work constructively with the cruise ship industry, with whom we remain actively engaged alongside state and territory governments to enable a phased resumption of cruising in Australia on the basis of medical advice”, adding, “As part of this work, the Government will continually review, on a monthly basis, whether the current restrictions on cruise ships can be safely lifted or amended”.
In the meantime, Cruise Lines International Association Australasia (CLIA), which sadly and I am sure very frustratingly for CLIA MD, Joel Katz and Chair Gavin Smith or whoever else is involved in these “actively engaged” discussions, appear to have had little impact or effect on the government in securing a return to cruising.  I am not blaming Katz or CLIA, but it must be like shouting into big black canyon and hearing nothing but echoes!
The government though says it continues to work constructively with the cruise ship industry and Cruise Lines International Association Australasia (CLIA), says it has been working for months to try and get the ban lifted, but no progress appears to have been made nor it appears any key milestones or KPIs to be achieved put in place.
In addition, despite many requests for information by GTM to CLIA and the cruise companies regarding what is being discussed, by who and when and clarification regarding what the stumbling blocks are, nobody will respond with any details CLIA with their published protocol, which interestingly does not appear to include compulsory vaccination and also several requests for interviews to CLIA and the cruise companies have all been denied.
In his statement last week Katz said Australia was the only major cruise market in the world without an agreed plan to resume cruising, which we all know and I am afraid have heard ad nauseum, with nearly 300 vessels already cruising globally, but only a couple of very small ones in Australia with it appears Australia becoming rather a laughing stock of the cruise and travel world.
Some cruise opinion formers have also said that the Australian governments’ responses to cruising and the current ban on foreign-flagged vessels, will make operators very nervous about positioning ships here in the future and who would blame them!
Katz says that cruising is ordinarily worth more than $5 billion a year to the Australian economy, which again we all know and have heard many times, but what we really want to know is what is going on, what is being discussed, by who and when and clarification regarding the stumbling blocks, which it appears nobody will speak about!
Katz also said “In other countries close to five million people have already sailed successfully under the cruise industry’s extensive new health protocols”, adding, “We need federal and state governments to use the coming weeks for genuine discussions with the cruise industry so we can plan a similar revival in Australia.”
But hang on, so is there no plan and Katz says discussions need to take place, but the government says it continues to work constructively with the cruise ship industry and Cruise Lines International Association Australasia (CLIA), says it has been working for months to try and get the ban lifted!
So, are discussions taking place or not, what is going on, what is being discussed, by who and when and clarification regarding the stumbling blocks.
CLIA asked us to write to our Federal and State MPs, which I did and received a standard blanket response which told me nothing, so that was a waste of time.
So, the best guess right now is that Australian cruising might and I stress, might restart in May 2022, as it takes some time to reposition vessels as they are all well away from Australia right now, but by then it is winter and many Aussie cruisers will also have gone overseas to cruise, leaving the Australian cruise sector devastatingly on its knees.
A report in Cruise Passenger last week after the announcement said that a spokesperson for the NSW Premier’s office told Cruise Passenger, “State and territory jurisdictions are working together to develop nationally consistent protocols for the re-commencement of cruising”, adding, “Nationally consistent protocols will ensure that all government and industry are aware of their roles and responsibilities when operating cruises in this new environment.”
The Cruise Passenger report added that there has been confusion on how cruising may operate if it were to return in one or only a few states before the nation as a whole, but the spokesperson assured NSW is working with all other states on how to minimise risk and prepare a response to outbreaks.
I suppose that my question is how long does it take to work all this out?
It should take no time at all, but clearly that is not the case, as the whole process appears to have become mired in classic Australian government bureaucracy, with it appears no industry association or operators appearing to be powerful, strong and influential enough to be knocking on the right doors in Canberra and state and territory capitals to speak with the right people at the top and resolve it…or maybe it is just that they are not telling us!
I am confused, as I am sure you are…come on….we need clarity and now!
Written by: John Alwyn-Jones, Cruise Editor.