(Transcript from SBS World News Radio)
The move will prevent the federal government from easing visa regulations for foreign workers in the industry.
The Australian Mines and Metals Association has slammed the decision.
Zara Zaher reports.
(Click on the audio tab above to hear the full report)
Executive Director of the association, Scott Barklamb accuses Labor and the Greens of endangering jobs.
"The action effectively means that every non-Australian working in our offshore gas and oil sector has last night lost their work rights. Every holder of a 457 visa including those who've been here for years, those in highly technical and specialised occupations, appear to no longer work lawfully in our industry. Labor and the Greens understood perfectly well the trouble they were creating and they were bloody minded and did it anyway."
However, the Maritime Union of Australia welcomes the Senate vote, saying it will protect Australian jobs.
National Secretary, Paddy Crumlin says the offshore oil and gas sector just wants to save money through the use of cheap foreign labour.
"They know exactly what it's about. It's about avoiding the use of Australian labour that are freely available - six percent unemployment rate. There are Australian workers out there. Those Australian workers, if this visa was meant to go through, would be displaced by international workers, working on sub-standard rates of pay and having no law including taxation apply and they are scoundrels for putting that misinformation out in my view."
Paddy Crumlin says the federal government's changes to the visas are misleading.
"It is misleading regulations. 457 visas have been there and workers are out there where they fill a genuine gap in skills and competency that may not be able to be met by the Australian Labor market so it's got nothing to do with that. What they intended to do by bundling up 2 or 3 visas, they created a new visa called the Maritime Crew Visa that was basically meant to veto the legislation. Anyone who came in on that - semi-skilled, unskilled, wouldn't have fair work labour standards, no safety, no taxation, nothing at all in regards to Australian employment or other regulations would apply. It is a spurious attempt to basically circumvent the intent of the legislation."
But Scott Barklam from the Australian Mines and Metals Association insists foreign workers are only employed in particular instances.
"The occupations that the MUA was concerned about are a minority of specialists on a few highly technical vessels of which there are a handful globally who come into our waters for a short period. We were talking about 15 to 20 per cent of people on ships that do a minority of specialised work. And even looking at the so-called narrow focus of the MUA, the end result of their actions last night is to throw hundreds of Australian residents' and citizens' jobs in jeopardy."
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