G'day Peter,
Sad news about a vessel that both of us are familiar with.
It appears that even the Australian owned/chartered, foreign flagged vessels are losing their Australian manning. The Rumours are that the TANDARA SPIRIT has been sold and will soon depart, to be replaced with spot charters on the coast. I believe that Viva Energy (who bought Shell's Australian interests) ended the charter last week. Rio Tinto though seem to be bucking the trend somewhat, with their Weipa-Gladstone vessels majority Australian manned, but with Singapore registry.
Cheers,
tropic