Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage (Regulatory Levies) Amendment Bill 2014, which amends provisions in the Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage (Regulatory Levies) Act 2003. I know for a fact that this is one of the most eagerly anticipated pieces of legislation to be considered by the 44th Parliament.

Appropriate cost recovery by both the National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority and the National Offshore Petroleum Titles Administrator is critical to ensuring that these entities are resourced in order to effectively administer the offshore petroleum regime, an area that has brought so much wealth to Australia over the last 30 or 40 years. NOPSEMA was established by the former Labor government on 1 January 2012 as Australia's first national independent regulator for (1) health and safety, (2) well integrity and (3) environmental management for offshore oil and gas operations. NOPTA was also established by the former Labor government on 1 January 2012. It administers titles, undertakes data and resource management and provides technical advice to the joint authority.

This bill before the chamber ensures the commencement of amendments to the Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage Act 2006 that were put in place by the former Labor government. The amendments seek to clarify and strengthen the compliance monitoring, investigation and enforcement powers of the National Offshore Petroleum Regulator and to ensure that enforcement measures for contraventions of the act are appropriate in application and severity in the context of a high-hazard industry, which is obviously the case when you are dealing with oceans and petroleum substances. We do not have to cast our minds back very far at all to find that there have been fatalities in Australian waters and as well as international waters.

These amendments continue the work of Labor to implement the lessons learnt and agreed in response to the report of the Montara Commission of Inquiry. On 21 August 2009 uncontrolled oil and gas were released at the Montara oilfield. Furthermore, there was an incident on 20 April 2010 at the BP operated Macondo oilfield in the Gulf of Mexico, which tragically saw the loss of 11 lives. These incidents serve as a strong reminder to governments, regulators, the offshore petroleum industry and the broader community that there are risks, particularly if we are complacent about the operation and regulation of offshore petroleum activities.

Labor is committed to doing everything possible to avoid incidents like the leak of oil and gas from the Montara Well Head Platform in the future. The former Labor government worked to ensure that we achieved the best and safest offshore petroleum industry in the world. Obviously safety has costs associated with it, but if it prevents fatalities and environmental damage then it is money well spent.

This bill ensures the commencement of amendments to the Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage Act 2006 that we put in place. I would point out that there are great environmental opportunities, particularly in places like Bass Strait and other depleted fields where perhaps in the future we will be able to store greenhouse gases safely to contribute to combating dangerous climate change. Industry, government and regulators must be absolutely committed to a culture of high safety standards and environmental protection within a framework of continuous improvement. We must work and learn together. Applying the lessons from the incidents that I have mentioned is vital for the effective regulation of the offshore petroleum industry and its ongoing licence to operate, both in a legal sense and in a social sense.

The amendments seek to clarify and strengthen the compliance monitoring, investigation and enforcement powers of the National Offshore Petroleum Regulator and to ensure that enforcement measures for contraventions of the act are appropriate in application and severity in the context of what is of course a high-hazard industry. It continues the work of Labor to implement the lessons learnt and agreed in response to the report of the Montara Commission of Inquiry.

The first major initiative towards a national occupational health and safety policy came in 1985 with the establishment of the National Occupational Health and Safety Commission, a tripartite body comprising representatives of the Australian federal, state and territory governments and of employers and trade unions—three entities working together. The NOHSC's powers were quite limited, being largely concerned with promoting occupational health and safety awareness and debate and providing a national focus and a forum for OH&S policies and strategies. Today Australia has some of the best occupational health and safety standards in the world. But we have also learnt that we must recognise that offshore regulations are implemented in a growing globalised world where capital is being sought by other countries with oilfields. The jobs and prosperity that flow from Australia's offshore petroleum industry, which has made a nearly $28 billion contribution to the Australian economy, are vital for our economy and energy security in the future. But this cannot come at the expense of the protection of human health and safety or the marine environment.

The National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority was established in 2005 for the regulation, and health and safety, of the offshore industry around Australia. It was established as a jointly administered authority required to report to the Australian government, and all state and territory ministers were responsible for the offshore petroleum industry and the Ministerial Council on Mineral and Petroleum Resources. In 2009 the Productivity Commission considered the complexity of the regulatory burden of approvals and reporting on the offshore petroleum industry and recommended that there be a single national regulator for Australian waters. I also point out that there are slow steps being taken onshore to achieve a similar efficiency, without lowering standards everywhere. Obviously, as a Queenslander, I always push for our mining industry's standards and think they should be rolled out around Australia, but I am sure other members of parliament will have their own views.

Whilst the Productivity Commission report was being considered, the Montara oil leak and wellhead platform fire occurred. A subsequent inquiry concluded that the operator of this facility did not observe sensible oilfield practices and that there were major shortcomings in systems, processes, communications, risk management and contractor management. These problems were widespread and systemic and they directly led to the blow-out. Obviously there is 20/20 vision with hindsight.

The environmental management authority will present its own challenges. There has always been a focus on trying to prevent environmental incidents, and the role of NOPSEMA is to strengthen that focus by actively managing incidents if they occur and ensuring that robust monitoring is in place to assess the environmental impacts of such incidents and the background impacts of general operations.

Obviously this industry does have some hazards. It is changing. It is catching up with the world. I would like to particularly mention one of my constituents, a young engineer who I follow on Twitter and who has given me some insights into life on an offshore oil rig: Yassmin Abdel-Magied. She is a young Muslim lady who is an engineer out on the oil rigs. It just shows you how much Australia has changed in the last 20 or 30 years of this industry. I commend the amendment bills to the House.

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