The part most guides leave out. Here is what each certificate actually gets you hired to do in Australia, and roughly what it pays. Figures are drawn from live job advertisements and move constantly — treat them as orientation, not a salary guide.
| TICKET | TYPICAL EMPLOYERS | INDICATIVE PAY |
|---|---|---|
| Coxswain Grade 1 | Whale watching and reef tourism, dive charter, adventure tourism, crew-transfer and offshore logistics support, small cruise vessels, aquaculture support | $36–$54/hr casual ~$65,000–$81,000/yr |
| Master up to 24 m | Charter skipper, fishing charter, larger tourism vessels, sailing charter operations | $40–$55/hr casual $100,000–$120,000/yr advertised at the top end |
| Master up to 45 m | Harbour and river ferries, port support craft, marine pilot support, LNG and resources marine logistics | ~$95,000 (port support) ~$148,000 (Sydney inner-harbour ferry master) ~$160,000 (LNG loading master, roster) |
| MED Grade 3 | Rarely a standalone job at this level — usually paired with a deck ticket. Ferries, aquaculture, fishing and tourism operators frequently require it as the minimum engineering qualification. | Bundled with the deck role |
| Sailing Master Coastal / Offshore | Sail training vessels and tall ships, commercial sailing charter, sailing schools running charters, skippered yacht charter | Folded into general skipper rates; no distinct published band |
| Deckhand (no ticket yet) | The entry point everywhere — and the way sea service gets accumulated | $65,000–$75,000/yr national average; higher in Broome and the Kimberley (~$89,000) and Tasmania (~$78,000) |
The industries that actually hire
Reef and island tourism in Queensland is the largest single employer of Coxswain and Master ticket holders, concentrated in Cairns, Port Douglas, Airlie Beach and the Gold Coast. Aquaculture is the quiet growth sector — salmon in Tasmania, prawns and barramundi in the north, pearls in Darwin — and it hires year-round rather than seasonally. Ferries in Sydney, Brisbane and Moreton Bay offer the most stable employment and the clearest progression. Ports and resources — pilot boats, line boats, LNG loading, marine construction support in Gladstone, Mackay and the Pilbara — pay the most and run on rosters. Commercial fishing pays well for deckhands ($80,000–$110,000 advertised) and is the fastest place to accumulate genuine sea days, at the cost of the hardest conditions in this list.
The superyacht route
A separate ladder, aimed overseas. The sequence is: a deckhand or stewardess entry course, STCW Basic Safety Training, an ENG1 medical, then RYA or IYT tickets while accumulating sea time, up to Yachtmaster Offshore or Master of Yachts.
STCW Basic Safety Training is usually described as four modules but is formally five under STCW Table A-VI/1: Personal Survival Techniques (in-water, abandon-ship), Basic Fire Prevention and Firefighting (hands-on, at a real fire ground), Elementary First Aid, Personal Safety and Social Responsibilities, and Maritime Security Awareness. Delivered in Australia as a five-day bundle — Superyacht Crew Academy in Sydney charges around $2,545 — it produces a Statement of Attainment against skill set MARSS00033, which you then convert into an AMSA Certificate of Safety Training for Australian-flagged work.
The ENG1 is a seafarer medical issued by an MCA-approved doctor, valid two years for under-40s. Approved examiners are thin on the ground in Australia — check the MCA's own overseas directory before assuming you can get one locally.
The Australian hubs are the Gold Coast (Gold Coast City Marina, the largest refit yard in the country), Sydney, Cairns and Fremantle. Crew work is found through agencies and dock-walking, not job boards.
Delivery skippering
Yacht deliveries are arranged almost entirely through informal crew registers and reputation rather than advertisements. The economics are worth understanding before you sign on: the delivery skipper charges a fee, typically structured as half upfront plus expenses and the balance on completion, while delivery crew are frequently unpaid — they are trading labour for sea miles. That is not exploitation so much as the market clearing: the miles are the payment, and for someone building toward Yachtmaster Offshore they are worth more than the wage would be.
Subsidies are real, and worth checking first
Maritime qualifications are on several state subsidy lists, and the difference is large. Western Australia's Lower Fees, Local Skills caps the Coxswain Grade 1 certificate at around $400 for concession holders and 15-to-24-year-olds, or $1,200 generally, against an unsubsidised cost near $2,900. Queensland subsidises but does not make it free — TAFE Queensland's Coxswain Grade 1 runs roughly $925 concession, $1,665 subsidised, $4,645 full fee. NSW Smart and Skilled funds places at TAFE NSW and several private RTOs. Check eligibility before paying a private provider's list price.
The main training providers, by state: the Australian Maritime College (University of Tasmania) and Seafood & Maritime Training in Tasmania; TAFE NSW, Sea School, Sydney Maritime Institute and Maritime Training School in New South Wales; TAFE Queensland — including the Great Barrier Reef International Marine College in Cairns — plus ECA Maritime College and the Whitsunday Maritime Training Centre; South Metropolitan TAFE and North Regional TAFE in Western Australia; and TAFE Gippsland and South West TAFE in Victoria.
The coast
Where you learn shapes what you learn. Nine training grounds and what each one teaches, the seasons that decide when courses run, the boats you will be assessed on, and the one hazard Australia has more of than anywhere else.