Rick Wilson (O'Connor, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is an absolute pleasure to follow the member for Paterson. As she mentioned yesterday, as the chair and vice-chair of the agriculture committee we handed down a report on biosecurity in the bee industry. I think we are at our best in this place when we work together cooperatively on committees, and it is a shame that the general public do not see that side of the work that we do here.

But the member for Paterson went above and beyond the call of duty yesterday, because the secretariat thought it would be a good idea to take the report down and present it to the bees in the hives here on the grounds of Parliament House. I am glad to see you got through that experience without getting stung, Member for Paterson. I am sure the bees are very happy with the outcome of our report.

But I am here today to talk about the Biosecurity Amendment (Ballast Water and Other Measures) Bill 2017. This bill makes two key changes to the Biosecurity Act. It will strengthen powers relating to ballast water to reduce the risk of invasive marine pests entering Australian waters, and it will enable better targeting and control of vectors such as mosquitoes that are capable of carrying human diseases such as Zika virus into this country. Following these amendments, Australia will be in a position to ratify the ballast water convention. It will require ships to have ballast water management plans while in Australian waters and discharge ballast water in accordance with the convention. It will allow new ballast water treatment technologies to be used and will phase out ballast water exchange.

Each year around 200 million tonnes of ships' ballast water is discharged into Australian ports by 13,000 ship visits from some 600 overseas ports. Australia is vulnerable to marine pest incursions. Many cargo ships arrive here without cargo and have a large quantity of ballast water. In my electorate of O'Connor, many of the bulk vessels that enter the ports are empty, as they are chartered to export bulk grain and mineral products. As a matter of course, the vessels will carry ballast water to stabilise them during the journey. This ballast water can host vectors that are hazardous to human health or it can transport animal and vegetative pests that are alien to Australian waters. Our fishing industry is vulnerable to marine pests and it is important to protect our waters and resources from the possibility of such incursions.

The ports of Albany and Esperance are two vital export channels for industries across the electorate of O'Connor. In 2016, 158 vessels visited the port of Albany to import and export in excess of 4.5 million tonnes of bulk product. Grain and oil seeds are the chief export commodities from Albany, but there are also large volumes of woodchips and tonnages of logs and silica sands. In the same year, 209 vessels serviced the port of Esperance, with over 50 million tonnes of product moving across the wharves. Iron ore was the major bulk commodity, with over 11 million tonnes of ore from the Northern Goldfields being transported by rail and road to the Esperance port for export. Cereal grains and oil seeds were the next largest export by volume, and there are also nickel products, gold pyrite and even scrap metal passing the ships' rails in most years.

In the last year, we have seen the first shipment of woodchips leave the Esperance port. Last season the WA grain industry set a record for production, with approximately 16.8 million tonnes of grains delivered to the receival system. The recent rain events across the south of the state have delivered a full soil moisture profile, and the potential for another very large freight task to export this year's crop is looming.

One of the features of carrying out any business in Australia, of course, is managing the logistics supply chain that supplies your business inputs. The ports of Albany and Esperance play a vital role in supplying key inputs to the mining and agricultural industries in the south and south-east of Western Australia. The two main imports for the agricultural sector that enter via both Albany and Esperance are bulk fertilisers and petroleum products. Many farmers across the electorate will currently be planning their cropping programs, based on the timely delivery of those inputs from the ports. The Esperance port is also the entry point for some large tonnages of sulphur and magnesium oxide, both of which are important inputs for the resources sector in the Goldfields and Ravensthorpe.

I will just take the opportunity to mention the shire of Ravensthorpe, which is recovering from a severe flood event that happened about a month ago. I want to say to the people of Ravensthorpe I am monitoring the situation. I dropped in and saw the shire CEO the other day and will be back down there as soon as we have a break in April to see how that recovery effort is going.

The south coast of WA, which Ravensthorpe sits on, also includes Hopetoun—one of those beautiful spots—along with the Fitzgerald River National Park. Over a dozen cruise ships visit each of those ports every year. The tourism industry continues to expand on the south coast of the electorate, and many of the visitors enjoy fishing, boating, diving and sightseeing along the coast. This bill will assist in protecting marine species and the marine environment along the south coast of WA. It will provide the powers needed to manage a potential incursion, should it occur. Given the increasing importance to the Australian economy of exports through the two ports in my electorate of O'Connor, this legislation is vitally important to my constituents, and I commend the bill to the House.

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