Angie Bell (Moncrieff, Liberal National Party, Shadow Minister for Youth) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak on the High Seas Biodiversity Bill and to outline the coalition's position on this important legislation. The coalition supports this bill. It's necessary legislation and it's legislation that will finally put in place the high seas treaty negotiated under the auspices of the United Nations, a treaty that has been a long time in the making and one that, frankly, has been unnecessarily delayed by the current government. This is not a new conversation. This is not a new issue.

Under the previous coalition government, Australia played a constructive and engaged role in the international negotiations that led to this treaty. We understood what was at stake, not just environmentally but economically and strategically. Critically, those negotiations ensure that Australia's exclusive economic zone, also known as the EEZ—one of the largest in the world; in fact, the third largest—was properly recognised in international law. That matters. It matters because our EEZ underpins our sovereign rights over vast marine resources, it matters because it allows us to manage those resources sustainably and it matters because it ensures that Australia retains control over how we protect and utilise our marine environment. As a nation, we have benefited enormously from that outcome. We have benefited in environmental terms through strong protections and careful stewardship of our oceans, and we have benefited economically through the responsible management of fisheries, energy resources and emerging marine industries.

The negotiations that delivered this treaty did not happen overnight. They were complex, they were detailed and they were led in large part under the previous coalition government right up until 2023. The current government became a signatory to the treaty in 2024, yet here we are two years later only now dealing with ratification—two years! What has the government been doing for the last two years? Not much it seems, because in that time more than 80 countries—around 85 in fact—have already ratified the treaty. So again, I ask: why the delay? Our government that says it can walk and chew gum at the same time; it seems it can't.

Why has Australia fallen behind when it comes to formalising an agreement that we helped shape? This process, as I outlined, started under the coalition. There was no progress and then, all of a sudden, there was this urgency to get it done. Our understanding is that this sudden urgency was not driven by domestic priorities but by international optics, because of the first ever Ocean COP slated for late 2026 and the government seeking to save face on the global stage, no doubt. It's disappointing because the parliament should not be driven by appearances; it should be driven by outcomes. It's especially disappointing given that the coalition has offered bipartisan support for this legislation throughout the process. We've been clear, we've been consistent and we've been constructive. We recognise the importance of this treaty and we recognise the importance of getting the implementation right.

This bill does more than simply ratify an international agreement. It seeks to establish new regulatory frameworks to give effect to the treaty's provisions, particularly in areas such as marine genetic resources and digital sequence information, area based management tools and environmental impact assessments. These are complex and evolving areas. Marine genetic resources, for example, represent a growing field of scientific and commercial interests. They have the potential to unlock new medicines, new technologies and new economic opportunities. But with that potential comes responsibility—responsibility to ensure that access is fair, responsibility to ensure that benefits are shared appropriately and responsibility to ensure that innovation does not come at the expense of environmental integrity.

Similarly, area based management tools and environmental impact assessments are critical mechanisms for protecting biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction. The coalition supports these objectives, but we are equally clear on this point: implementation must be practical, efficient and coherent. These new rules should complement existing global and regional frameworks, not duplicate them. We already have a range of international agreements and regional bodies governing ocean management. The last thing we need is a patchwork of overlapping regulations that create confusion, increase costs and undermine effectiveness.

Good policy is not just about ambition; it is about execution. The government has also pointed to the global target of protecting 30 per cent of the world's marine areas by 2030. On its face, it's a noble ambition, and the coalition recognises the importance of protecting marine biodiversity. But we also recognise a pattern from this government—a pattern of announcing big targets without credible plans to deliver them. We've seen it in housing, where the government's target of 1.2 million homes is already falling short. We've seen it in other policy areas, where rhetoric has outpaced reality.

So, when it comes to this 30 per cent marine protection target, the question is not whether it sounds good. There are several questions that remain: How will it be achieved? What are the practical steps? What are the timelines? What are the impacts on industries and regional communities and on Australia's economic interests? These are not unreasonable questions; they are necessary questions. At this stage the detail remains unclear. We understand that some of the government's plans to meet this target are currently under review. We welcome that review and we look forward to seeing the detail of that review because, if this target is to be meaningful, it must be backed by a clear, credible and achievable plan.

In closing, the coalition supports this bill. We support it because it gives effect to a treaty that Australia helped negotiate. We support it because it provides a framework for protecting biodiversity in the high seas, and we support it because it aligns with Australia's longstanding commitment to responsible ocean stewardship, but that does not mean a blank cheque. We will continue to scrutinise the implementation of this treaty. We will continue to advocate for practical, efficient and effective regulation and will continue to hold the government to account for delays, for lack of detail and for any failure to deliver on its commitments. Australia has a proud record when it comes to managing our oceans. That record was strengthened under the coalition, and we intend to ensure that it's not diminished under this government.

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