Chapter 1

1.1        On 27 November 2014, the Senate referred the provisions of the Shipping Legislation Amendment Bill 2015 to the Senate Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport Committee for inquiry and report by 12 October 2015.

Conduct of inquiry

1.2        The committee advertised the inquiry on its webpage and in The Australian on 8 July 2015, calling for submissions by 21 August 2015. The committee also wrote to a range of organisations and individuals likely to have an interest in the matters covered by the bills, drawing their attention to the inquiry and inviting them to make written submissions.

1.3        The committee received 40 submissions, as listed in Appendix 1. Submissions were published on the committee's inquiry webpage.

1.4        The committee held a hearing in Canberra on 7 September 2015. A list of persons and organisations who gave evidence at the hearing is in Appendix 2.

Structure of the report

1.5        This report is divided into three chapters.

• Chapter 1(this chapter);
• Chapter 2 provides an overview of the current law and the provisions of the bill; and
• Chapter 3 discusses the key issues considered by witnesses and submitters, and provides an assessment of the bill.

Acknowledgement

1.6        The committee thanks the organisations and individuals that made submissions to the inquiry or appeared at the public hearing.

Note on references

1.7        References to Hansard are to proof Hansard. Page numbers may vary between the proof and the official (final) Hansard.

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