Thursday, 5 February 2026

 Tom McINTOSH (Eastern Victoria) (10:04): The Maritime Union of Australia are fighting for workers on Carnival cruise ships who they believe are being paid as little as $2.50 an hour. I joined the MUA, the Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance and Victorian workers down at Station Pier to meet a Carnival cruise ship that had docked, to meet the tourists that were coming off and to implore Miami-based Carnival Cruise Line to negotiate in good faith on an International Transport Workers’ Federation agreement. Victorians do not want to see our neighbours – Indonesians, Filipinos – being paid low wages and in poor conditions. These ships are massive – we are talking up to a thousand workers in a ship at any time. There are some reports of workers not seeing daylight for days or weeks on end. It was in the Age I think about two weeks ago that cruising is becoming increasingly popular with more generations of Victorians and Australians. Ships are being equipped to be zero emissions. This is an industry that has got a big future, but Victorians will not support operators who are going to look to make profits by treating a workforce unfairly. Again I implore Carnival to meet in good faith and negotiate an outcome that sees more and more Victorians going on their cruise ships for years to come and workers that are happy alongside happy tourists.