Anguish at lack of action on cruise ships

MORE than 15 years after Dianne Brimble’s death on board a cruise ship — and after major inquiries into the cruise industry — her devastated family says her death has been in vain.

Not one of the key inquiry recommendations has been implemented and Ms Brimble’s former husband, Mark Brimble, who has campaigned for years to make cruising safer, says he feels completely insulted.

An investigation by News Corporation, publisher of the Mercury, has found that of the original 11 recommendations made by the Troubled Waters report of the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Social Policy and Legal Affairs, none of the major ones have been adopted.

The 11 recommendations were made in June 2013 and by June 2015 only two minor recommendations had been agreed on, one of which was not even binding.

By 2016 three remained up for debate — two were then rejected and one was “agreed in principle”.

The recommendation for a voluntary scheme for cruise ship operators departing Australia to provide standard safety information to all passengers is due to be implemented within months.

But Mr Brimble, who heads the Australian chapter of the International Cruise Victims Association, says it’s not good enough.

“Nothing has changed, it’s probably the most disheartening fact about it,” Mr Brimble said.

“Not one of the main recommendations of the inquiry has ever been implemented.

“We spent thousands of taxpayers’ money on a federal inquiry that came to nothing.

“I am fearful that this industry is going to become so large and the Government is going to be so dependent on it, it will be very difficult to make an objective decision.”

Cruise lines operating in Australia, such as Carnival and Royal Caribbean, say many of the recommendations have been implemented independently of the inquiries, such as CCTV and setting up of protocols with police forces.