Labor transport spokesman Anthony Albanese attempted to censure the government on Tuesday amid accusations that the prime minister, Tony Abbott, and his deputy, Warren Truss, misled the house about the advice given by senior government staff to an executive of an Australian shipping company.

On Monday, Truss denied that a North Star Cruises Australia representative, Bill Milby, was advised that to remain competitive under proposed new shipping laws he should sack his Australian crew members and hire foreign staff.



Abbott also denied the claims last week, saying it was “just not true” that Milby had been given advice to reflag his vessels to a foreign country.

But on Monday night, the executive director of the surface transport policy division, Judith Zielke, and the general manager of maritime and shipping, Michael Sutton, told a Senate committee they had advised Milby that re-registering his business overseas and hiring foreign crew was an option.

In question time on Tuesday, Albanese attempted to pass a suspension motion to allow for a motion to be moved calling for the government to correct the record, to apologise to Milby, and withdraw the proposed changes to national shipping laws currently before the parliament.

The government should instead enter into a “proper consultation process” with the maritime sector about any future proposed changes to maritime legislation, Albanese said.

But the government successfully moved to gag Albanese and the debate did not occur.

“The government’s refusal to debate this important matter highlights its cynical preparedness to attack and undermine anyone critical of its policy approach and the prime minister’s lack of good grace as shown by his refusal to apologise to Mr Milby,” Albanese said in a statement following the short-lived discussion.

“The Abbott government has gagged debate in the parliament to avoid being held to account for seeking to discredit a Western Australian shipping company representative who blew the whistle on the job-destroying nature of proposed new shipping laws.”

Albanese also pressed Truss, calling on him to explain and correct before the house his comments about advice given to Milby by department staff.

But Truss accused Labor of making a “big noise about trivial issues” and maintained that the record was correct.



“What I said yesterday was Mr Milby wasn’t advised to take any particular course of action,” Truss said. “At no stage did the government tell him what he should do.”

Rather, government staff had provided Milby with a range of options, Truss said.



“He [Milby] makes his own decisions as a responsible businessman,” he said.



“Mr Milby has been competing with overseas operators for many years and doing so successfully. “I have no doubt, should legislation come into effect, it will be his choice how to operate his business.”



Later during question time, the opposition leader, Bill Shorten, also called on the prime minister to “just apologise”.

But Abbott would not be drawn into an apology, replying; “We are certainly standing up for the Australian shipping industry”.

The number of ships engaged in coastal shipping had halved under the previous Labor government, Abbott continued.

Australian Council of Trade Unions secretary, Dave Oliver, echoed calls for Abbott and Truss to apologise publicly to Milby now that his claims of departmental advice to sack Australian workers had been proven correct before a Senate committee.

“It is a national disgrace that the Abbott government wants to trash yet another Australian industry due to its ongoing ideological crusade,” Oliver said.

“The Abbott government must abandon its plan to dismantle the Coastal Trading Act, which dictates that ships trading between Australian ports must be crewed by Australian workers, or paid Australian award wages.”

The government’s proposed changes to the act raised serious questions about national security, fuel security, jobs and skills, and the protection of the environment, he said.