Josh Wilson (Fremantle, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Climate Change and Energy) Share this | Hansard source

I present a revised explanatory memorandum to this bill and move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

Australia is an island nation, a maritime nation, with the ocean wrapped around our national identity in a sustaining and defining embrace.

First Nations people have a profound and enduring connection with sea country, which is central to cultural and spiritual identity, social and economic life, and wellbeing.

The ocean is critical to our economic prosperity and health. It connects us with our region and the rest of the world.

In June 2023, the United Nations adopted the Agreement under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas beyond National Jurisdiction, also known as the high seas biodiversity treaty.

The treaty provides greater environmental protection for the ocean by providing a global framework for protecting and sustainably using marine biodiversity outside our maritime borders—that is, the high seas and the seabed beyond the limits of national jurisdiction. Around 60 per cent of the global ocean is beyond national jurisdiction, but only around one per cent is currently protected.

The treaty will complement existing international and regional instruments, frameworks, and bodies. It will enhance cooperation between parties as well as between the existing global and regional ocean governance regimes and will play a critical role in achieving the global target to protect 30 per cent of the world's marine areas by 2030.

The treaty will also complement Australia's own domestic and regional practices in sustainable ocean management and protection. More than half of Australia's maritime jurisdiction is now protected in marine parks. That includes about a quarter of our marine estate—2.2 million square kilometres—in highly protected areas. At last year's United Nations Ocean Conference Australia went further, committing to work towards lifting that to 30 per cent highly protected by the year 2030.

Australia was proud to sign the high seas biodiversity treaty on 20 September 2023, the day it opened for signature, after playing an active role in its inception and development over two decades. Today I am proud to introduce the High Seas Biodiversity Bill. This implementing legislation will enable us to ratify the treaty, noting that the treaty entered into force on 17 January this year.

In 2024, the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties recommended that Australia take binding treaty action and become a party to the high seas biodiversity treaty. This bill creates a new regulatory regime to implement into Australian law relevant obligations under the treaty, relating to marine genetic resources and digital sequence information; area based management tools, such as marine protected areas; and environmental impact assessments.

Marine genetic resources and digital sequence information

Part 2 of the bill establishes oversight for the collection and utilisation of marine genetic resources from areas beyond national jurisdiction and related digital sequence information.

The bill implements a notification based regime requiring certain persons to provide information on the collection and utilisation of marine genetic resources and digital sequence information. This information will later be provided to the clearing-house mechanism, an open access platform managed by the secretariat under the agreement. The bill also imposes reporting and record-keeping requirements on relevant repositories and databases and will provide for an online register to receive required information, enable public access and promote transparency. The register will be operated by the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water.

Area based management tools, such as marine protected areas

Part 3 of the bill creates a framework for Australia to recognise and declare area based management tools, such as marine protected areas, and their associated management plans, established by the treaty's Conference of the Parties, and for Australians to comply with them.

The government is preparing for the first generation of high seas marine protected area proposals, as contemplated by the treaty. Work is underway to lay the groundwork for Australia to lead and support others on such proposals, including gathering the underpinning science and data and engaging with stakeholders.

Environmental impact assessments

Part 4 of this bill will put in place an environmental impact assessment process to manage the risk of harm to the marine environment in areas beyond national jurisdiction from planned activities by Australian entities. It also implements obligations with respect to planned activities within Australia's jurisdiction that may have significant impacts on the marine environment in areas beyond national jurisdiction.

The purpose of part 4 is to ensure that the potential impacts of such activities are assessed in accordance with the treaty, before the minister makes a decision on whether to authorise the activity.

Closing remarks

To secure the health and resilience of the high seas and all other areas beyond national jurisdiction, we must cooperate and coordinate with other countries and act to implement relevant provisions of UNCLOS.

Ratifying the high seas biodiversity treaty demonstrates Australia's commitment to international law and the multilateral system more generally.

The Albanese government is committed to working with key partners in our region and beyond to safeguard the health of our shared ocean domain—which must be protected for its own sake and for the sake of environmental conditions and marine biodiversity on its own terms—and to support a sustainable blue economy for future generations.

In the first term of the Albanese government, Australia delivered the largest act of global marine protection in calendar year 2023 by strengthening the Macquarie Island Marine Park, and then we delivered the largest act of global marine protection in calendar year 2024 by strengthening the Heard Island and McDonald Islands Marine Reserve. As a result of those key improvements to the national network of marine protected areas that was designed by the Gillard Labor government, Australia now protects more than 4.6 million square kilometres, or 52 per cent, of Australia's ocean. Twenty-four per cent of our ocean is under a high level of protection in no-take zones, and we are working towards protecting 30 per cent by 2030. As a nation whose character and wellbeing is deeply sustained by the ocean, our focus and active support for the High Seas Biodiversity Treaty is what the Australian community rightly expects.

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