Dear editor,

Thank you for publishing my article and the reply from Queensland Maritime Safety ["Queensland's passenger ships, Digital Ship May, page 8]

This brings the issues onto the international stage, and reveals the problems between international law legislation.

I also thank the QMS for their reply. It was a violent, tragic and dramatic event and I know that at a human level they know how we feel.

Some years ago, in Australia there were similar discrepancies between federal and domestic law for the airlines industry. Imagine the outrage if there were to be a mid-air collision and three hundred people were to die, due to differing air-standards. 

This possibility instigated the Airlines of NSW case and resulted in federal legislation covering airworthiness and air safety, overriding individual state legislation. 

In my opinion the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) unifies safety at sea. There is no restriction on size, class, or nationality of vessels to which it applies. 

It quite definitely states requirements for enforcing standards of seaworthiness of vessels and training of crew, and the State's responsibilities (under international law, Australia is the 'State'). 

These standards must be observed and there are strict penalties for breaching them. The penalties must be imposed; it is not optional by reason of 'domestic' law.

A collision at sea can be even more devastating than a mid-air collision between two airliners. Fate does not discriminate between a 200-passenger catamaran and a one hundred thousand tonne tanker, nor between a domestic and an extra-national vessel.

Governments, whether local or national, must take into account Public Interest, and the avoidance of tortuous liability is paramount. 

But not at the expense of learning from our mistakes and preventing repetition, and not if they are counter to UNCLOS and other international maritime law.

Our workers are not dispensable. 

Queensland argued at the civil hearing, that Barnaby and Graham were "only two workers doing maintenance', and their deaths did not constitute a 'marine incident' under Queensland marine law. 

There was no marine intelligence displayed at the coronial inquiry. 

The company, "Pure Pleasure Cruises" was fined $125,000 at the industrial court, which it avoided paying by going into liquidation and recommencing operations under a new name. 

The coroner charged the operations manager of Pure Pleasure Cruises with two counts of manslaughter, which the Director of Public Prosecutions promptly dropped, as he explained to me by letter that "this was a ramshackle operation', and "nobody understood the requirements for entry into confined spaces." 

There were so many infractions of basic sea law, that even the most serious opponent to human rights was 'gob smacked' at the Queensland government's decision not to hold a marine inquiry. 

Premier Beattie tells me that he "knows how I feel", but that "there is nothing he can do" since the coroner's court is 'higher' than a marine court. 

They even changed the interpretation of the law to ensure there will not be a marine inquiry. Any appeals to the Ombudsman are inappropriate since he reports to the premier and under Queensland's constitution, there is no separation of powers. 

It seems to me that these issues are universal, and this is not just a domestic squabble. Maritime safety is important to us all. 

We are not lesser human beings because we choose, or are chosen to go to sea, and there is only one standard. 

My life is sacred to me, and your life is sacred to you. I regard your life as sacred, and I fully expect reciprocation. We are all the same in life and death. 

Barnaby died trying to save Graham's life as he was thorough and conscientious in everything he did. If the people responsible for ensuring the seaworthiness of these two ships had had even one per cent of his integrity, then these two fine young men would still be alive and contributing in a heroic fashion to life. This is the challenge that Barnaby has bequeathed.

Ed Houghton-Ward
Rosebank, New South Wales, Australia