Sea Transport Corporation’s Dr Stuart Ballantyne says Australia has a “deficiency” in ships and ports.

It comes after Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese unveiled Labor’s policy to build a strategic fleet of 12 Australian ships to protect the country’s supply chains.

“We have a deficiency in ships and … for a nation of this size, we need about 200 ships. 50 of those would be overseas ships, and the other 150 would be domestic,” Dr Ballantyne told Sky News host Cory Bernardi.

“But we need ports, and we actually need the ports first, but the problem with that is we have already enshrined all of the coast with national parks, sensitive fish habitats, sensitive ecology.

“So, to get a port approved, even a small one like we’ve done recently in South Australia takes years and years to get through EPA and the EPBC.”
Source: SkyNews