Hi there
Be careful about this.
Under NO circs do you want Hubby to be landed with a Maritime Crew Visa, I firmly suggest, and it later emerging that that is not what you hoped for at all. Shipping companies can he horribly artful so if it were me, I'd tell them my list of demands up front and say, "Take it or leave it."
Please see the link below (the better not to have to consider it twice, I suggest):
Search Results - Department of Immigration and Citizenship
Bob - if this company is willing to provide an Employer Nominated
PR visa instead, and the ship operates outside Australian territorial waters as well as within them, do you think Hubby might be able to claim to be non-resident for Income Tax purposes, bearing in mind that if the ship is Australian-registered (which it might well not be) then it is technically Australian soil?
Australian Income Tax Law is not necessarily driven by the international Conventions (and Australian domestic law) of Merchant Shipping, I suspect.
Cheers
Gill