Ian Macfarlane (Groom, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Energy and Resources) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the Minister for Resources and Energy for the update he has just provided to the House in regard to the response that is being implemented following the incident on the Montara oil field in the Timor Sea. The opposition accept the minister’s presentation of the sequence of events and are satisfied that all that needs to be done that can possibly be done to clean up the spill effectively, with the minimum damage to the surrounding environment, is being done. These are never easy situations and we realise that people have an extraordinarily high expectation in regard to the response by both the government and the companies involved. The government is, through its bodies Geoscience Australia and the various other agencies involved, including the Australian Maritime Safety Authority, doing everything it can. Perhaps there will be lessons to learn from this, and I will come back to this a little later in my speech. But for the time being I have to say that I support the minister in thanking the personnel of the Australian Maritime Safety Authority for the high standards they are already displaying in regard to their response.

I also take the opportunity to concur with the minister’s comments that we should never be complacent about the risk of oil well blow-outs. Offshore exploration has long played a critical role in contributing to our national economy and it will continue to do so well into Australia’s future. I note the minister’s statement that this is the first well blow-out offshore since 1984 and that around 1,500 wells have been drilled safely in that time. While any blow-out is one blow-out too many, the reality is, given the scale and involved nature of this type of project, that this is still a very impressive record. However, we should not use that record as an excuse not to maintain even higher standards going forward from here, higher standards based on the experience we gain from the investigation which the minister has foreshadowed that will take place once the first priority of shutting this well down has been achieved.

Whilst there is no room for complacency, we cannot afford to be alarmist. Unfortunately, in the wake of this spill some have chosen to forgo a reasonable and rational assessment of what has happened and instead use the situation as a platform for opportunistic statements, some of which have since been contradicted. For example, on 29 August a statement was issued from Senator Rachel Siewert stating that the oil was sited only 20 kilometres off the coast and would soon hit the Kimberley coast. This stands in stark contrast to statements presented in this House today placing the spill 170 kilometres off the coast of Western Australia. I believe the minister’s figures not only because of his requirements to always speak the truth in this House but I know that they are backed up by Geoscience Australia and the marine safety authority, two agencies of enormous respect internationally. When we hear of statements about the oil slick being 20 kilometres off the coast and another statement the previous day measuring the size of the oil spill from east to west at 180 kilometres, we realise that we are running a risk here of letting the fiction hide the facts. Only the facts will fix this situation. Only the facts can be used to ensure that this situation never happens again. We should not allow those who want to politicise this matter to use the situation for their own political advantage and put at risk our ability to effectively deal with this situation now and the possible recurrence of the situation in the future.

Once the immediate effects of the spill are dealt with, it is prudent to be going forward armed fully with the facts about the circumstances leading up to the spill and the impact it has had and to put in place provisions to prevent a similar situation occurring again. I note that the minister has indicated he will announce arrangements for an investigation into the Montara incident. I also note from his statement that he will introduce amendments to the Offshore Petroleum Amendment (Greenhouse Gas Storage) Act 2008 to provide for that broad-ranging major incident investigation power. On the basis that we have confidence in the preparation of those amendments, in principle we will support them when they come to the House. What we must do also is to ensure that we work in company with any state authorities on this matter and ensure that as we go forward we do everything we can to prevent a reoccurrence.

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