Andrew Southcott (Boothby, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

On behalf of the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties, I present the committee’s report entitled Report 74—Treaty tabled on 28 March 2006: agreement for establishment of the Global Crop Diversity Trust.

Ordered that the report be made a parliamentary paper.

Report 74 contains the findings and recommendation of the review of the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties of the agreement for the establishment of the Global Crop Diversity Trust, tabled in parliament on 28 March 2006. The agreement for the establishment of the Global Crop Diversity Trust, although a separate legal instrument, will operate within the framework of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture.

The International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture was reviewed in the 68th report of the committee and provides a binding international framework for the conservation, sustainable use and exchange of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture for global food security. The agreement, through the establishment of the Global Crop Diversity Trust, secures the long-term conservation aims of the international treaty through long-term funding. The agreement will provide for the establishment of a trust to finance gene bank conservation of crop genetic diversity. The focus of the trust will be to secure the future of key international collections under the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research system.

The trust is a public-private partnership that will be financed by voluntary contributions from North American and European corporations and private foundations. The permanent endowment will be $US260 million and will generate $US10 million to $US14 million annually for the maintenance of eligible national, regional and international gene banks or collections of crop diversity. While the majority of funding received in the early stages has come from national governments, the trust will shortly commence fundraising, concentrating on private sources. Australia has made the largest overall financial commitment to the trust of $A12.5 million. The government informed the committee that accession to the agreement would formalise Australia’s involvement in line with its commitment to global crop diversity and complement Australia’s interests in the international treaty.

The committee has agreed to fast-track the review of this treaty, as on 6 April 2006 the Hon. Alexander Downer, Minister for Foreign Affairs, informed the committee that Australia is seeking to secure a position on the Executive Board of the Global Crop Diversity Trust. Further, the minister stated that Australia’s position on the board would ensure appropriate consideration of Australia’ s interests and that Australia’s executive board campaign would be strengthened if Australia were in a position to become a party to the trust agreement at the time of the board’s first meeting. The board’s first meeting is scheduled to take place from 12 to 15 June 2006. I thank all members of the committee for facilitation of this speedy review.

The executive board of the trust will have responsibility for the operation of the trust, control over its budget and ensure its policies are in line with those of the international treaty. The committee was informed that Australia has taken a leading role in the establishment of the trust and its ongoing management and administration. Australia was elected Chair of the Donor’s Council of the trust for an initial term of three years at the inaugural meeting of the council in October 2005. In this role, Australia is responsible for selecting four members of the executive board of the trust in the first half of 2006.

As the parliament would be aware, the period for review of proposed category 1 treaty actions by JSCOT is 20 sitting days. The period of review for this treaty would have expired in mid-August, at which time the committee expects to report on seven other proposed treaty actions which were tabled on 28 March 2006. In considering this treaty action, the committee was concerned that only one other member of the Cairns Group was a member of this treaty. The committee was also concerned that there were no other developed countries such as the United States and Canada which Australia would benchmark itself against in the area of agricultural research that were also party to this agreement. The committee was also concerned that in our three-year review of the overarching treaty this trust agreement was not brought to its attention.

However, in conclusion, on balance the committee does support Australia’s campaign to seek a position on the executive board of the trust and believes that Australia’s representation on the executive board will ensure appropriate consideration of Australia’s interests at the upcoming meeting of the governing body of the international treaty. The committee therefore recommends that the treaty reviewed in report 74 be acceded to. I commend the report to the House. (Time expired)

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