Josh Wilson (Fremantle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On behalf of the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties, I present the committee's Report216 Nairobi Convention, and I ask leave of the House to make a short statement in connection with the report.

Report made a parliamentary paper in accordance with standing order 39(e).

by leave—I am pleased to make a statement on the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties Report 216 Nairobi Convention. The report covers JSCOT's inquiry into a new major treaty action, the Nairobi International Convention on the Removal of Wrecks, and also one minor treaty action amendment to appendices 1 and 2 of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals.

The Nairobi convention outlines the legal basis for countries to remove or have removed wrecks, including objects lost at sea in areas beyond the territorial sea within the exclusive economic zone. Ratifying the Nairobi convention is particularly important to Australia because, as an island continent with a significant coastline and shipping industry, we depend upon clear and safe navigation of the sea and we depend upon imports. And, of course, our high-value exports are essential for maintaining Australia's economic wellbeing and the livelihoods of millions of Australians.

For Australia, the majority of wreck incidents involve shipping containers that come to be adrift at sea; that's the reality. Generally, they fall from foreign flagged vessels while they are within our EEZ. Under current domestic regulatory framework, wrecks that occur like this in Australian waters and within our exclusive economic zone, result in situations where effectively the government can't recover the removal costs, which can be significant. Ratifying the Nairobi convention would give Australia a clear legal basis to remove and have paid for, or have removed, wrecks or other lost maritime hardware—like sea containers, as I have mentioned. The treaty means that registered shipowners and state parties become financially liable for the wrecks they create. This means that owners of vessels of over 300 tonnage gross must have insurance or other financial security to enable them to locate, mark and remove any wrecks. This would remedy the current situation and provide the government with the ability to recover costs of removal directly from the registered shipowner's insurer. That provides greater certainty and helps to avoid disputes over the responsibility and the costs there too.

The extent of relevant losses that we see today is likely to increase with the rise of e-commerce and the heightened demand for shipping freight. Larger container ships are being used more frequently, which places extra pressure on the shipping supply chain. In future, ships will more commonly travel at full capacity, with added pressures to load and unload swiftly. All of those things make it likely that we will see more fugitive containers in our waters and the need to respond to those. Given these increasing pressures, and amongst a variety of other factors, the committee believes ratification of the Nairobi Convention is very much in Australia's national interest.

Our JSCOT inquiry included a public hearing and the participation of witnesses from the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts, in addition to witnesses from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. The kinds of issues that we covered included the value of shipping to Australia, which is considerable; domestic regulatory gaps; broad economic benefits, the seriousness and consequence of wrecks, where they occur in Australia; environmental hazards; and the matter of underwater cultural heritage.

The minor treaty action covered in the report focuses on amendments to appendices 1 and 2 of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals. That convention was established in 1979 to put in place measures to protect and ensure the sustainability of threatened migratory species, including their habitats. Appendix 1 of the convention lists endangered species, while appendix 2 lists species with an unfavourable conservation status—species which would be at risk of becoming endangered. These amendments add two new species to appendix 1 and 11 to appendix 2, including a number of maritime species like the grey nurse shark. These changes contribute to global biodiversity protection.

The committee supports the Nairobi Convention, and has recommended that binding treaty action be taken. The committee also resolved that the minor treaty action be endorsed without inquiry and that binding treaty action be recommended.

As always, I thank all committee members for their participation and thank the secretariat for the support we get. On behalf of the committee, I commend this report to the House.