John Faulkner (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Vice-President of the Executive Council) Share this | Hansard source

I will try and deal with those important questions with the information I have available. The first date I am aware of is when the incident itself took place, which was 21 August 2009. As Senator Siewert and other senators would be aware, it is the Australian Maritime Safety Authority’s responsibility to coordinate the clean-up under the National Plan to Combat Pollution of the Sea by Oil and other Noxious and Hazardous Substances. I can say that the majority of the oil remains within the vicinity of the platform and the closest sheen to the mainland is reported to be at least 200 kilometres from the Australian coast.

I also can say that the area affected is being closely monitored by regular daily flights arranged by AMSA. As I understand it, AMSA has been keeping Indonesian authorities informed about the progress of any oil sheen near Indonesia. I can also inform the Senate that Indonesian officials have taken part in a daily observation flight aboard the AMSA Dornier search and rescue aircraft. In addition, I can say that reports taken on 25 October indicate patches of sheen to be around 230 kilometres from the Indonesian coast. (Time expired)