Janelle Saffin (Page, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I speak in support of the Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage Legislation Amendment (Miscellaneous Measures) Bill 2010 and the accompanying Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage (Safety Levies) Amendment Bill 2010. The government is establishing a national offshore petroleum regulator to operate from 1 January 2012, and it is important to have the legislation passed to get the necessary legwork done in time and to allow for the retention of the funds from 1 July this year. It will be these funds that will fund the national offshore petroleum regulator. The objective of the main bill is to establish the regulator, and the aims are as follows: to strengthen the role of the National Offshore Petroleum Safety Authority, to make clarifications on how titleholder provisions apply where titles are held jointly by two or more titleholders, to make clear a titleholder’s responsibility under the occupational health and safety provisions of the act and to make technical amendments to achieve a more enforceable regulatory regime and update the act in a few areas.

These amendments are minor policy and technical changes which, most importantly, pave the way for the establishment of the regulator. This will improve the ability of the authority to regulate the structural integrity of facilities, wells and well-related equipment, and it will clarify the way the provisions regarding titleholders relate to situations where title is held by two or more titleholders.

There are no adverse effects on industry from these bills and no additional costs as such. Currently, all the money the Commonwealth receives from industry fees under the act and related acts is paid to the states and the Northern Territory. In order to fund the establishment of the regulator, the government will retain the fees paid under the registration fees act. The minister will be reviewing the fees collected under the act and associated acts to ensure that the states and the Northern Territory will be able to continue carrying out regulatory functions on behalf of the Commonwealth until such time as the regulator is established.

The augmentation of the authority’s functions is to ensure that it can effectively and fully regulate the structural integrity of petroleum and greenhouse gas facilities, wells and well-related equipment, even where certain structures such as pipelines and wells may not have people at or near them for extended periods of time. These amendments do not extend the authority’s role beyond that of an occupational health and safety regulator.

The bills provide clarity in relation to administrative arrangements for and treatment of obligations of titleholders in situations where title is held by two or more of them. They also provide that a titleholder’s duties under the occupational health and safety provisions of the act relate only to wells. Under the safety regime, a range of people have duties to ensure worker health and safety, but critical information about the well and reservoir is held only by the titleholder. However, the amendments remove any possibility that a titleholder could be held directly responsible for facilities which it has no control over.

The changes to certain offence provisions in the act which relate to titleholders are to make sure that offences can be more successfully prosecuted by making these offences ones of strict liability. As they currently stand, the provisions require intent to be proved in order for a prosecution to be successful. This is very difficult to do given the nature and remoteness of offshore operations in addition to the proliferation of multiple titleholder arrangements. The amendments remove the need to prove intent. In line with government policy regarding strict liability, these changes are being made to offences with physical elements.

I want to make a general comment about the issue of strict liability. While I support these changes and understand the need in this situation—it is to do with occupational health and safety, which has to be a primary concern—I retain an apprehension, if you like, about strict liability in general. It is probably my lawyer’s background there. But I do understand that in this situation, when we are dealing with occupational health and safety, it is important—understanding how it works and how it operates in this particular situation.

Other amendments include a minor correction updating the act to reflect recent changes in regulations and providing further transitional arrangement in the safety levies act to allow further time for the amendment of state and Northern Territory legislation.

I will turn to schedule 1 of the miscellaneous measures bill; there are certain parts in it that I will make some comments on. Part 2 provides the authority with a clarified role and some strengthened functions, and this is important. These amendments make sure that the authority’s existing functions, relating to the structural integrity and the soundness, strength and stability of offshore petroleum facilities, also expressly cover wells and well-related equipment. They also expressly give the authority an ability to examine non-occupational health and safety aspects of structural integrity, and that is important. In ensuring such facilities and structures are safe when people engaged in petroleum activities are at or near these facilities and structures, the authority may need to take into account aspects of structural integrity which may not necessarily be directly related to occupational health and safety but which are nevertheless important to consider in assessing the integrity of the facility or structure. This is largely because certain structures, such as wells and pipelines, do not usually have people constantly near them. That is a good thing; however, when people are near them, they need to be safe. However, to be clear, these amendments do not extend the authority’s role beyond that of a health and safety regulator. They just give them the power and the authority to do what is necessary so that they can carry out their role as regulator.

I turn to the provisions covering multiple titleholders. Part 3 clarifies how the act applies when a petroleum or greenhouse gas title is owned by two or more titleholders, also known as multiple titleholders. This is common in the offshore resources sector. The amendments set out that, where multiple titleholders are making an application or request or giving a nomination or notice, they must nominate one of the titleholders to act on behalf of the others to make these applications. This part also makes clear that, where a title is owned by multiple titleholders while legal obligations under the act apply to each and every holder of a title, such obligations may be acquitted by any one of the holders. It is important to bring that clarification into the act.

Part 4 makes a number of offence provisions which apply to titleholders where the offences comprise physical elements only—the offences of strict liability that I talked about but for physical elements only. These provisions relate to the physical doing or not doing of an act—so by commission or omission—and relate to provisions that require information and record keeping or require compliance with expected work practices or with the regulator’s directions. Given the nature and remoteness of offshore petroleum activities, it is not always possible to have regulatory staff constantly and comprehensively monitor the activities of companies. Regulatory staff are thus dependent on the titleholder informing them of compliance with requirements and directions. Making these offences ones of strict liability removes the requirement to prove that the titleholder intended to do or not to do a certain act. In a situation that is about safety and where safety is paramount, it is absolutely essential that things be kept in pristine condition to minimise any damage or injury. It is very difficult to prove intention in these circumstances, as we know, particularly where there are more often than not multiple titleholders and, therefore, this serves to frustrate compliance efforts resulting in the need for these amendments.

These are very important amendments. Even though I said they are minor and technical, they are nonetheless very important changes to the act because they are about improving health and safety, improving compliance, ensuring that those are of paramount concern and having the regulator that can deal with those issues. I did not know a lot about this industry some years ago. I think as Australians and particularly as parliamentarians it behoves us to know about the industry. It is very important to Australia and the Australian economy. It was during my time working and living in Timor-Leste that I got to know a lot more about this industry, which I found very beneficial and useful in the role that I am playing today as an elected member. With those comments, I commend the bills.

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