Luke Gosling (Solomon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

[by video link] This year marks the 60th anniversary of the Antarctic Treaty, which anchors the current Antarctic Treaty System. Australia has played a critical role in creating and sustaining this architecture. But, if we want to play the same role over the next 60 years, greater investment and presence by Australia is needed.

This treaty designates Antarctica as a scientific preserve, prohibits military activity and provides that no action while the treaty is in force can enhance or diminish the legal basis of any territorial claims to the continent. Antarctica has experienced no military conflict so far, and we hope that it never will. However, the treaty preferred to defer, rather than resolve, the thorny issue of territorial claims, and the treaty has no enforcement mechanisms. The continent is increasingly becoming a new theatre of power politics, intimately linked to geopolitical contestation further north in the Indo-Pacific. China and Russia are bolstering their investment and military presence under the guise of 'scientific research' to press their influence and probe the treaty for weaknesses. This comes at a time when Australia and like-minded countries, such as the US and UK, have had to scale back our Antarctic programs to prioritise COVID-19 recovery. We need to be clear about Antarctica's value to states. It is enormous. It holds massive deposits of gold, copper, lead, zinc, and uranium, as well as 70 per cent of the world's fresh water. These resources aside, bases and ports in Antarctica enable force projection straight into the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian oceans.

Australia has always had a direct interest in protecting Antarctica, and Labor has a proud history of protecting Antarctic wilderness. Australia claims 42 per cent of Antarctic territory, the largest territorial claim of any state. We formalised our claim in 1933. But it stretches all the way back to British claims from 1841, long before the Antarctic Treaty. For years Australia has been at the forefront of Antarctic science and exploration. These contributions have bought us real influence in international decision-making on Antarctica.

Ongoing cuts to science and research erode this critical source of Australian power. If we want the Australian Antarctic Territory to continue to be the integral part of Australia that we have always claimed it is, then we must make Antarctica a strategic priority for Australia. We cannot defend Australia's sovereignty without doing so.