RDA Brisbane weighs in on coastal shipping reform
RDA Brisbane has presented a research report, The Economic Impacts of the Coastal Trading Act 2012 on the Queensland Economy, to the Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development in response to their March 2017 Discussion Paper on Coastal Shipping Reform.
Our submission concludes that the current legislation (Coastal Trading Act 2012) has had an adverse impact on Queensland’s regional economy. For example, many manufacturers find it more economical to import raw materials than buy the same product from local producers because of escalating shipping costs brought about by the current shipping legislation.
The report was originally commissioned and completed in late 2015, and was an internship project between RDA Brisbane and the University of Queensland. It coincided with the introduction of the Shipping Legislation Amendment Bill 2015 into Parliament and its subsequent rejection in the Senate.