Download Fragment

Thursday, 10 May 2012
Page: 3134

Aviation

Senator XENOPHON (South Australia) (14:51): My question is to Senator Lundy, representing the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship. Just over three months ago, on 8 February, I asked questions relating to the visa arrangements for overseas based cabin crew operating on domestic legs of so-called international tag flights operated by Australian airlines. At the time, Minister Ludwig said he would seek further information from Minister Bowen on whether the Qantas Group was meeting its obligations under the Migration Act in respect of the issue with Jetstar and overseas based crew. Can the minister provide the information that has been sought from Minister Bowen some three months ago?

Senator LUNDY (Australian Capital Territory—Minister Assisting for Industry and Innovation, Minister for Multicultural Affairs and Minister for Sport) (14:52): Thank you, Senator Xenophon, for your question. The Minister for Immigration and Citizenship has advised that the government has long-standing facilitative immigration arrangements for international airline crew entering and departing Australia. The relevant legislative provisions have been in place in their present form since 1 September 1994.

Airline crew members are taken to hold a special purpose visa for 30 days after they disembark from the aircraft on which they travelled to Australia, provided they hold a passport that is in force and an airline identity card. Airline crew members are not permitted to work in Australia other than the work of a kind they normally perform in the course of their duties as an airline crew member. These provisions are supported by the crew travel authority, which enables airlines to register crew with the department in advance and facilitates their processing through our systems at both check-in and on arrival in and departure from Australia. This arrangement can only be used by foreign crew entering Australia as employees engaged in international air travel either as positioning crew or as operational crew.

Special purpose visa provisions were not designed for foreign airline crew to perform identifiably separate tasks from their international airline crew work in Australia. Specifically, it is not appropriate for foreign airline crew to operate in Australia on domestic sectors which have no reasonable connection to an international service. Any work performed in relation to a domestic leg of an international flight should be incidental to, and in no way separate from, the international sector.

The Department of Immigration and Citizenship has clarified this expectation with the Qantas Group in a letter of 2 April 2012 and will also be communicating with industry more broadly. It may be appropriate to consider monitoring arrangements with airlines to ensure this expectation is met. It is anticipated that these matters will be further considered at a meeting between the department and Qantas that will be occurring shortly. (Time expired)

Senator XENOPHON (South Australia) (14:54): Mr President, I have a supplementary question. I thank the minister for her answer. If there is a flight between Melbourne and Sydney that is tagged as an international flight but the majority of passengers are domestic passengers and they do not have to clear customs, is that something that the department would be concerned about?

Senator LUNDY (Australian Capital Territory—Minister Assisting for Industry and Innovation, Minister for Multicultural Affairs and Minister for Sport) (14:54): I refer Senator Xenophon to the comprehensive answer I have given. Perhaps I can further advise that discussions are already taking place about a regime of voluntary reporting to the Department of Immigration and Citizenship. Jetstar has already advised the department that since February it has placed limitations on the number of contiguous sectors on which cabin crew can work and the numbers of hours that they can work on tagged flights. It is also open to the Department of Immigration and Citizenship to consider regulatory changes as appropriate. Any such consideration would need to carefully balance domestic considerations against international commitments and reciprocity.

I reiterate that the special purpose visa provisions were not designed to allow foreign airline crew to perform identifiably separate tasks from their international airline crew work in Australia because such use would run counter to the intended purpose of those SPV arrangements.

Senator XENOPHON (South Australia) (14:55): Mr President, I ask a further supplementary question. Finally, the government has previously expressed concerns about the poor working conditions for overseas based cabin crews in this situation being on effectively domestic flights. When and how will the government act in relation to these concerns and will the government look behind some of these arrangements to see if it is a genuine international flight or, effectively, a domestic flight tagged as an international flight?

Senator LUNDY (Australian Capital Territory—Minister Assisting for Industry and Innovation, Minister for Multicultural Affairs and Minister for Sport) (14:56): I can reiterate that the department is open to consider regulatory changes if they are needed. Specifically, SPVs do not allow foreign airline crew to operate in Australia on domestic sectors which have no reasonable connection to an international service. As such, any foreign crew coming to Australia to specifically work on domestic flights would need to hold another appropriate visa, with a subclass 457 visa generally the most appropriate option. That is probably all the information I am able to give you today, Senator Xenophon, but I thank you for your question.