Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Minister for Fisheries, Forestry and Conservation) Share this | Hansard source

Yes, I have seen the report of the Scrutiny of Bills Committee and it expressed concern about the application of strict liability to the territorial sea element of certain foreign fishing offences and the potential to unduly trespass on personal rights and liberties. There are also rights that Australia has to defend its territory and its waters. Without going into a whole treatise in relation to this, there is UNCLOS—the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea—which does not allow us to jail people in relation to offences committed from the 200 nautical mile zone all the way through into the 12 nautical mile zone. So these fishermen, by the time they stumble across the 12 nautical mile border, will have penetrated and abused our territorial waters for 188 nautical miles.

We did try the legislation without this strict liability and we came up with advice that said it would be not be possible to allay prosecutions because it would be difficult to prove that they knew about the 12 nautical mile boundary. I have said before that I think there are deficiencies in UNCLOS—the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea—but, having said that, we are very serious about protecting our borders. We believe that when you come that close to the Australian shore, undertaking illegal conduct on many occasions having travelled 188 nautical miles, then tough action is required.

The only part of the offence where strict liability will apply is that the persons were in Australian territorial waters. The bill does not alter the other elements of the offence provisions with the overall offence remaining one in which fault must be proven. These amendments complement the Australian government’s strong commitment to border protection. We as a government have engaged with Indonesian authorities and individual fishing communities and conducted education and awareness campaigns about the consequences of fishing illegally in Australian waters. Indonesian fishing communities have been informed about the custodial offence provisions in the Australian waters and have been provided maps in language which clearly states where fishers can fish and the extent of the Australian fishing zone. The strict liability provisions, as they affect illegal foreign incursions, are required to ensure that Australia can prosecute and imprison persons guilty of committing a foreign fishing offence in Australia’s territorial seas.

I hope that this provision never needs to be invoked and I publicly thank the people of Customs, the Navy and the Australian Fisheries Management Authority for the wonderful work they are doing, through border protection, in keeping out illegal foreign fishers. In fact, more and more often we are capturing them near the 200 nautical mile zone rather than close into shore. In fact, I understand there have been no reported cases of illegal fishermen coming onshore in the last 12 months. Those sorts of figures are good, but we still want a robust system in place to protect our fisheries and, more importantly, our biosecurity.