Bernie Ripoll (Oxley, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Industry, Infrastructure and Industrial Relations) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak on the Protection of the Sea (Harmful Anti-fouling Systems) Bill 2006 and offer Labor’s support to the measures being proposed in this bill. I will not be speaking for long. This is a very straightforward bill. It is something that is eminently sensible and obviously needs to be done. It is a technical change and something that the Labor Party supports. The bill will implement the International Convention on the Control of Harmful Anti-fouling Systems on Ships, the AFS convention, to prohibit the use of harmful organotins in antifouling paints used on ships. It will also establish a mechanism to prevent the potential future use of other harmful substances in antifouling systems.

Amendments to the AFS convention will be implemented through amendments to the act. Under the terms of the AFS convention, a party to the convention is required to prohibit or restrict the use of harmful antifouling systems on ships flying its flag as well as ships not entitled to fly its flag that operate under its authority and all ships that enter a port, a shipyard or offshore terminal of the party. There are two main prohibitions in the AFS convention. Firstly, the application of harmful antifouling systems or compounds, HAFCs, to relevant ships is prohibited as of 1 January 2003. Secondly, from 1 January 2008 no relevant ship may have an HAFC on its hull or external surfaces, except if it is coated with a barrier that prevents the HAFC from leaching into the water. Floating or fixed platforms completed before 2003 which have not been dry-docked since are exempt from this last requirement. Article 4 of the AFS convention requires parties to take effective measures to ensure all relevant vessels comply with the convention.

Australia signed the AFS convention back in 2002, subject to ratification. The Australian Shipowners Association, Shipping Australia Ltd, the Association of Australian Ports and Marine Authorities, the Australian Paint Manufacturers Federation and environmental non-government organisations were all consulted in respect of the convention. Consultation with the states and territories was undertaken through premiers, and chief ministers’ departments and through the Australian Transport Council, the ATC. The ATC recommended ratification of the convention at its meeting on 8 November 2002. According to the national interest analysis, the Australian Shipowners Association, Shipping Australia Ltd, the Association of Australian Ports and Marine Authorities, the Australian Paint Manufacturers Federation and environmental non-government organisations were all consulted in respect of that convention as well. Consultation with the states was also undertaken.

When the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties, JSCOT, considered the AFS convention back in mid-2003, government officials anticipated that the present bill would be introduced later that year. This was presumably based on the expectation at the time that the convention would come into force in 2004-05. As at 30 June this year, only 16 countries have actually ratified the convention, which represents only 17.3 per cent of the world’s merchant shipping by tonnage. As the AFS convention will commence only in 12 months time after ratification by 25 states—representing 25 per cent of the world’s merchant shipping tonnage—entry into force will be no earlier than the latter part of 2007. So it has taken quite some time for this to make its way through the political, bureaucratic and policy-making process into the Australian environment as well as into the rest of the world.

Australian domestic policy regarding harmful antifouling paints is important in terms of protecting our sea, our marine life and other matters associated with that. The use of HFACs, antifouling paints, on ships less than 25 metres in length has effectively been banned via state and territory legislation since the mid-1990s anyhow. In 2003 the Commonwealth phased out the use of tributyltin, TBT, paints in Australia—which is in reference to the HFACs. The use of environmentally harmful TBT based antifouling paint compounds on ships has largely been phased out with respect to Australian ships, which is a good thing.

When it comes into force, the AFS convention and the Protection of the Sea (Harmful Anti-fouling Systems) Bill 2006 will reinforce this position by effectively prohibiting almost all ships and floating platforms with such compounds from Australian ports, shipyards and offshore terminals. However, the AFS convention and the main provisions of this bill are unlikely to come into force until at least late 2007. But they will come into force, which is positive for Australian waters, marine life and the protection of our beautiful, pristine coastline. The Labor Party gives its support to the measures proposed in this bill.

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