David Fawcett (SA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On behalf of the Chair of the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties, I present the 152nd report of the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties—Treaty tabled on 16 June 2015.

Ordered that the report be printed.

I move:

That the Senate take note of the report.

The report contains the committee's views on amendments to the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships, usually referred to as MARPOL. MARPOL is administered by the International Maritime Organization, the IMO, and provides an international regulatory framework for dealing with marine pollution. It addresses six types of marine pollution: oil, bulk noxious liquids, harmful substances in package form, sewage, garbage and air pollution. The regulations for each of these types of pollution are contained in the annexes to MARPOL.

We considered four amendments to the annexes, relating to: oil pollution, harmful substances carried at sea in package form, and air pollution. The first amendment was prompted by an incident in 2014 when a fishing vessel using heavy grade oil as ballast sank in the Antarctic. The clean-up exercise was both difficult and costly. Water is usually the ballast of choice, so this kind of accident had not been anticipated. It appears that extra fuel was being carried as ballast. This amendment will close this apparent loophole in the regulations, by prohibiting ships in the Antarctic from carrying heavy grade oils. Such ships will be restricted to carrying and using either marine diesel oil, marine gas oil or other lighter fuel blends. Explicitly banning the carrying of heavy grade oil will make sure that the original intent of MARPOL is enforceable in the Antarctic.

The second amendment will remove radioactive materials from the scope of the harmful substance criteria, as such substances are covered by other IMO regulations. This will get rid of the duplication of the requirement for labelling radioactive material in packaged form.

The third amendment relates to emissions of nitrous oxide from the burning of gas fuel. It will clarify the definition of 'fuel oil' to include 'gas'; and of 'marine diesel engine' to include 'gas fuelled engine'. The fourth amendment will improve the transparency of the international air pollution prevention certificate, making it easier to understand and allowing quicker verification.

The committee supports Australia's ratification of the amendments and recommends that binding treaty action be taken. On behalf of the committee I commend the report to the Senate.

Question agreed to.