Up to 130,000 of Australia''s stevedores, seafarers and long-haul truck drivers are to be screened for criminal history from this October. This is prior to being issued a new identification card that will be mandatory for access to the docks. Government officials have predicted that the vetting will cause some "stresses and strains, " pointing out that a criminal history is much more common among seaport workers than airport staff!
Exclusionary offences include counterfeiting, identification fraud, drug possession or trafficking and unlawful gun possession - these are to be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. However, offences such as assault and other violence related or robbery convictions are not considered to compromise the integrity of the supply chain. It is a practical measure to exclude these offences; if they were not, one government official noted, "we would probably lose 20% of the workforce."
Paddy Crumlin, the national secretary of Australia's top maritime union, says that his people are content to submit to the screening procedure.
"There is no criminality on the waterfront whatsoever, " he asserts. "There is no corruption, that's an urban myth."
