Lucy Wicks (Robertson, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am pleased to rise in support of the Maritime Legislation Amendment Bill 2015, which amends maritime legislation and enacts a number of provisions relating to maritime safety and the environment. The legislation before the House today implements measures to amend and correct errors in Australia's maritime legislation. Importantly, it also ensures our domestic obligations are aligned with various international conventions in accordance with the International Maritime Organisation, the IMO. As a government it is our duty to ensure that our laws for the prevention of maritime pollution are adequate, up-to-date and consistent with international law.

This bill will amend four principal acts: the Protection of the Sea (Prevention of Pollution from Ships) Act 1983, the Protection of the Sea (Civil Liability for Bunker Oil Pollution Damage) Act 2008, the Protection of the Sea (Civil Liability) Act 1981 and the Navigation Act 2012. This bill ensures that the definition of 'dangerous goods' in this act is amended to align with the current definition as found in the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea. I am advised that there are also some drafting errors that have been identified by the Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development which are rectified by this legislation. It makes amendments to the protection of the sea act to replace the definition of 'sea near a state', which was amended as an unintended consequence of a drafting error in the Maritime Legislation Amendment Act 2012. It also corrects errors in the current legislation to allow action to be taken by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority against non-compliant vehicle operators. Currently the acts limit the Australian Maritime Safety Authority's ability to take enforcement action against operators who do not carry appropriate insurance certificates. This bill amends the relevant acts to ensure it accurately specifies the appropriate certificate that the vessel operators have to maintain.

Importantly, for environmental protection this bill will also include an additional measure to close a loophole related to heavy grade oil, or HGO, in Antarctic waters. The context behind this is that last year the Marine Environment Protection Committee of the IMO was made aware that a fishing vessel had sunk in the Antarctic while carrying HGO in its ballast tank. I understand that the heavy grade oil was slated for use as fuel once the ship had left the Antarctic area. But, Mr Deputy Speaker—and I must admit I am speaking on advice rather than on experience on this one—a ballast tank is designed to assist with a ship's stability and would ordinarily hold water. The flag state of this vessel, the state under whose law the vessel is registered or licensed, did not take action, as they interpreted the regulation as not extending to banning HGO carried as ballast. Essentially, this interpretation exposes a loophole that the government believes is inconsistent with the original intent to minimise the presence of HGO in Antarctic waters. The serious incident also highlighted the real risk to the Antarctic area. This amendment will close that loophole, ensuring that Australia's domestic legislation is consistent with our obligations at an international level.

The need to protect the environment and the waters of the Antarctic also extends to the need to educate our young people on the value of environmental leadership. I was quite struck when reading through this legislation by how often matters that happen at a national level can actually have direct and local relevant impact in places like the Central Coast. Earlier this month, at the Marie Byles lookout at Bouddi National Park in Killcare Heights, I was able to join with some of the local Landcare groups and the Greater Sydney Local Land Services to announce a number of grants in our electorate. There were over $100,000 worth of grants through the National Landcare Program to fund three separate projects. The first was for $30,000 to assist with the preservation of the wagstaff spotted gum. The second was for Cockle Bay reserve at Empire Bay, with $20,000 to help clean up the area there, preserve native vegetation and also help protect threatened species.

The third grant that I wanted to speak about actually goes the importance of preserving our marine environment and acting against marine pollution. This was a grant of $54,000 to provide a series of workshops to educate around 20 primary schools on the Central Coast. The funding goes to an organisation called Take 3, which promotes student participation and leadership through its green sea turtle project. The Take 3 organisation aims to stop the impact of marine pollution through education and participation. During the program slated for the first two terms of next year, primary school leaders will become experts and advocates for marine creatures and our marine environment. They will do this through an increased awareness of the impact of litter, of threats to marine life and of how to be able to express this in the local community. I do believe this will be an outstanding program for young students on the Central Coast. I must say, I do look forward to joining the students in their endeavours when this program commences next year.

As I said on the day during the launch, I remember when I first got involved with what has shaped up to be one of our Green Army programs, which was all about helping our young people, our future generations get involved in green environmental initiatives to help protect and preserve our environment. I went out with a local group thinking, 'I am pretty committed to our environment. I love our environment because we live in one of the most beautiful environments in the best country in the world on the Central Coast.' I participated in one of these activities with Johno Johnson from Clean 4 Shore who said to me, 'Lucy, I've got to get you out in a wetsuit; come and join us and clean up the mangroves.' I really started to learn what it was all about. I spent over four hours with a number of young students from Brisbane Water Secondary College. We did indeed go out to the mangroves at Pelican Island at Woy Woy and I did think they look beautiful, absolutely pristine when you drive by them. But we spent four hours out there that day and that was something like the second or third time in as many months that Clean 4 Shore had been out to that very area. We picked up nearly four tonnes of rubbish that day in just four hours. I had never learnt so much about the importance of environmental awareness and initiatives as I did that day. I do commend these sorts of environmental and education programs because I think they do help change our understanding of the impact on the marine environment that our actions can have.

I note that the president of the Organisation for the Rescue and Research of Cetaceans in Australia, Ronnie Ling, a guy from Springfield in my electorate, is down here today meeting with the Minister for the Environment. In speaking with him about this legislation and about its impact, he said to me that all marine life is dependent actions of all people. People can have such a devastating effect through their own habits. As marine species are decreasing, people's use of the marine area can cause an increase in pollution. People need to take control of their actions to ensure the protection of marine areas and the species that inhabit them. This legislation, by removing the loophole relating to using heavy grade oil as ballast to ensure that HGO cannot be carried as fuel or as ballast on vessels in the Antarctic region is an important measure to help provide greater protection for our marine environment.

While the legislation before the House today deals with a number of provisions relating to maritime safety and the environment, it is also part of a wider narrative linked to the Central Coast that I would like to be a touch on in my remaining time here. One of the facts within the minister's second reading speech on this legislation actually caught my eye and that was the fact that nearly all or 99 per cent of our imports and exports are carried by ships. This ranks Australia as the fifth-largest shipping task in the world. On the Central Coast of New South Wales, where my electorate is, there were $619 million worth of international exports from our region in 2013 to 2014 according to the most recent to data provided by the Central Coast Regional Development Corporation. Manufacturing had the largest total exports by industry on the coast, generating $292 million in one financial year. There were $2.9 billion of international imports to the Central Coast in that same year, so shipping in the maritime industry is in fact quite relevant to our local economy.

In fact, the thriving import and export industries that help boost the Central Coast economy have a link to our own illustrious history of shipbuilders. And this Sunday, I am excited to be joining the Rotary Club of Kincumber, in conjunction with our local council, at the official opening of the shipbuilders memorial. I am advised that the event this weekend will be at 1 pm on Sunday at Carrack Road in Kincumber. The mayor of Gosford, Lawrie McKinna, the state Minister for Planning, Rob Stokes, and the president of Kincumber Rotary, Dave Richardson, will join us. Constructed on the foreshore of Brisbane Water, and in the works for the last five years, this is a project of which our community can be truly proud. Gosford council and Kincumber Rotary have done an extraordinary job not only raising funds for this memorial but also ensuring that it is done in a way that reflects the distinguished history of this industry in my local community. I am pleased to say the federal government has contributed with a maritime heritage grant of just under $10,000. This will help build, care for and promote this piece of local history for future generations.

Shipbuilding was a bustling industry on the Central Coast. Between 1829 and 1953, more than 500 vessels are known to have been built in and around my area. In the early days of the New South Wales colony, coastal shipping was essential in transporting the valuable hardwood timber down to Sydney. Great pride was taken in constructing timber vessels in many of the villages that surround Brisbane Water, like Kincumber, Davistown, Blackwall, Empire Bay and Terrigal. Two of the most influential boat builders in this period were Jonathan Piper and James Woodward. Mr Piper is particularly well known as a shipwright, having built 24 vessels and been a father to 14 children. This project honours these men with permanent memorials on the waterfront and, where possible, in locations close to where they carried out their work.

While the size of this shipbuilding activity declined with the introduction of steel vessels, some level of shipbuilding continued almost through to the present day. The concept of a shipbuilders memorial is based around a large main memorial to the overall industry and its members, and a series of smaller memorials dedicated to the memory of key individual shipbuilders. Renowned local marine architect John Woulfe has designed these structures—sandstone pillars connected to a stainless steel rib that looks like a partly built ship. They are quite brilliant, and the vision of Kincumber Rotary Club is to be congratulated. It is not just a memorial to a faded past, but also a reminder of what we are capable of as innovators and successful businesspeople on the Central Coast. I commend this bill to the House.

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