Since the start of 2018, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) has detained 31 ships docking in Australia for breaches of the Maritime Labour Convention (MLC) — the international standard for the working and living conditions of seafarers.

The Mission to Seafarers is a registered charity and arm of the Anglican Church which has branches all over the world offering hospitality, internet and transport to workers when they come ashore.

Its Gladstone arm works with about 15,000 of the 60,000 seafarers — shipping industry workers — who arrive to the port city every year.

What is a 'flag of convenience' ship? A flag of convenience ship is one that flies the flag of a country other than the country of ownership

A flag of convenience ship is one that flies the flag of a country other than the country of ownership Ship owners with flags of convenience can take advantage of minimal regulation, cheap registration fees, and low or no taxes

Ship owners with flags of convenience can take advantage of minimal regulation, cheap registration fees, and low or no taxes Lack of regulation can allow owners to employ cheap workers from poor countries. These workers can face low wages, and poor on-board conditions. (Source: International Transport Workers' Federation)

General Manager Jessica Mulhall said, at Gladstone Port alone, workers were reporting welfare issues about once a month, with complaints ranging from being underfed, underpaid or other workplace mistreatment.

The International Transport Workers Federation, which represents foreign maritime industry workers, says some shipping companies use 'flags of convenience' which register the ships to countries that are less likely to investigate deaths or welfare issues.

It said little action had been taken by the Federal Government since a Senate Inquiry into the issue in 2017, but the Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack maintains Australia has some of the strictest inspection regimes in the world.

Welfare group says workers afraid to speak up

Jessica Mulhall manages Mission to Seafarers at Gladstone, which offers a welfare service to seafarers and refers cases of crew mistreatment to Australian authorities. ( ABC News: Jemima Burt )

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority has detained five ships at Gladstone port since 2018 for breaches of the Maritime Labour Convention.

In September last year the MV Fortune Genius, a Chinese coal ship registered to Panama, was one of them.

It had underpaid eight of its Burmese workers by $100,000 over five months and has since been banned from re-entering Australian waters for 12 months.

The Gladstone Mission to Seafarers was responsible for reporting that case to the authorities.

Ms Mulhall said, often, workers from heavily disadvantaged backgrounds came to welfare organisations because they were afraid of the consequences of speaking up.

"A major part of what we do is the delivery of welfare services to seafarers who aren't getting paid correctly."

She said they were not getting the right amount of food throughout the day or they were being charged for drinking water on the ships.

"They have to pay money to get their job in the first place and often have unsafe working conditions.

"A lot of the time, whether it's real or not, there is definitely a perceived threat that they're now going to be punished because they reported it, or money is going to be withheld or not sent home to their families.

Six workplace deaths in Australian waters in two years

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority has also recorded six operational-related deaths of workers on foreign ships since January 2018, but that number only includes deaths which occur within 200 nautical miles of Australian coastline.

AMSA reports an additional 12 deaths occurred from natural causes since the start of 2019.

Gladstone is a port city in central Queensland. ( ABC Wide Bay: Nicole Hegarty )

No deaths were officially recorded on ships docking at Gladstone.

But a welfare organisation based at Gladstone said the death toll could be significantly higher than the AMSA figures, because it did not include deaths which occur while ships were en route to Australian waters.

Ms Mulhall said in the last 18 months the group had offered welfare to the crew of four different ships where workers had died on board, but not in Australian waters — their bodies were brought ashore for repatriation.

"Of all four deaths I don't think any of them were reported here locally, let alone nationally in the papers and again we're just looking at what's happening in Gladstone.

"If there were four deaths in any industry in Australia, the industry would be shut down and there would be phenomenal investigations.

"So, what those figures are internationally would be considerably more than that," she said.

The International Transport Workers Federation of Australia said the issue was the lack of a central register of people getting on and off ships departing for multi-month-long voyages, which are often without communications at sea.

"We see a massive amount of reported suicides at sea and sometimes the bodies aren't recoverable, they're just lost over the side," said National Co-ordinator Dean Summers.

"The insurance companies don't pay out for suicides so it's very convenient if they can label every death at sea a suicide," he said.

"There is a central database that records the death of cattle and sheep and the livestock export and import market.

"We understand from AMSA that there is not a central database that records seafarers deaths, injuries and reported suicides around the world."

Flags of convenience still 'lawless and 'deregulated' says union

The Transport Workers Union said many of the welfare breaches continued to happen on ships flying flags of convenience despite a comprehensive Senate Inquiry into the issue.

The inquiry was prompted by a Four Corners investigation into three suspicious deaths on one ship in a six-week period.

In 2017 the Senate Committee made seven recommendations, but less than half of those recommendations were supported by the Federal Government.

Recommedations of Senate inquiry into use of Flag of Convenience shipping That the Fair Work Ombudman implement a wage verification program to protect foreign seafarer – which the Australian Government did not support

That the Fair Work Ombudman implement a wage verification program to protect foreign seafarer – which the Australian Government That funding be made available for such a program – which the Australian Government did not support

That funding be made available for such a program – which the Australian Government That the Government implement clear guidelines to respond to deaths with vessels' flag states – which the Australian Government noted

That the Government implement clear guidelines to respond to deaths with vessels' flag states – which the Australian Government That the Government provide clarity on the jurisdictional responsibility for investigating deaths at sea – which the Australian Government noted

That the Government provide clarity on the jurisdictional responsibility for investigating deaths at sea – which the Australian Government That a maritime workforce advisory body be established – which the Australian Government noted

That a maritime workforce advisory body be established – which the Australian Government That the Commonwealth undertake a review of the Australian maritime industry – which the Australian Government did not support

That the Commonwealth undertake a review of the Australian maritime industry – which the Australian Government That the Commonwealth conduct a whole of government review into the economic, security and environmental risks presented by 'Flag of Convenience' vessels – which the Australian Government did not support

Additionally, the Federal Government backed a dissenting report put forward by three members of the Senate Standing Committee on Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport — the committee tasked with conducting the inquiry.

Queensland Liberal National senator, Barry O'Sullivan, West Australian Liberal senator, Chris Back and Tasmanian Liberal senator, David Bushby issued the report which argued that Australia's transport security regime was already robust, and that the Australian Government already 'supports a comprehensive framework for protecting the rights of seafarers.'

Mr Summers said as a result, there had been next to no political action since the inquiry.

"Nothing has changed, it's lawless, it's completely deregulated and the laws are very, very scant," Mr Summers said.

"The responsibility for investigation of deaths goes back to the flag, in many cases it's places like Panama, Monrovia, Mongolia and places like that don't investigate at all and don't care about seafarer welfare."

In a statement, Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack, said "Australia continues to apply internationally agreed standards for ship safety and crew to ensure Australia has the safe, efficient and effective shipping services upon which our communities and economy depend."

"Australia applies the same rules and standards to all ships regardless of flag and has one of the most strict and effective ship inspection regimes in the world.

"Port State Control (ship inspection) data from 2018 shows that the compliance of ships with international laws and standards is improving, with deficiencies steadily decreasing over the past decade to record lows," the statement said.

The island nation which relies on shipping

A discussion paper published by Australian Industry Standards reported that in 2017, the Maritime Industry added $4.78 billion to the Australian economy, with 10 per cent of the world's sea trade passing through Australian ports.

It reported that 99 per cent of Australian exports are transported by sea.

Jessica Mulhall said Australia needed to place greater emphasis on looking after the people delivering the country's imports and exports.

"Australia is an island nation, and if we don't take care of those seafarers that capacity for us to generate income to export, our products it disappears," she said.

"No one really considers what happens to that product once it gets to our shores, it's still our product, it's still our responsibility to do something for those delivering it."