Sophie Scamps (Mackellar, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the High Seas Biodiversity Bill 2026 and welcome this legislation to ratify the United Nations high seas treaty, the Agreement on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction. It has been more than four decades since the last major global agreement on ocean protection, so this is a significant moment. It won't solve everything overnight, but it is a clear step forward. For the many people who care deeply about our oceans and who have worked on this issue for years, it represents real progress.

I want to speak a little about why the high seas matter and why ratifying this treaty is such a milestone. Australia signed this global ocean treaty in 2023, and this bill is about turning that commitment into action. This is one of the most important nature protection agreements we have seen in a long time. For the first time, there is a global legal framework to protect marine biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction—in other words, the vast parts of the ocean that no one country owns but that all of us depend upon. It also establishes a system to ensure that benefits from marine genetic resources are shared more equitably between nations. Beyond that, the treaty does a number of things. It creates a pathway for establishing marine protected areas on the high seas, it introduces requirements for environmental impact assessments before large-scale activities like deep-sea mining can proceed, and it includes provisions to build scientific capacity and support the transfer of marine technology so more countries can properly understand, manage and protect these environments.

The ocean is an important part of everyday life in coastal communities like mine, on the northern beaches of Sydney in Mackellar. In Mackellar, the ocean is a part of the rhythm of the day. It is the early morning surf or the walk along the coastline. It brings a sense of perspective. People value it for those reasons, but there is also a broader understanding that a healthy ocean underpins so much of what we rely on, from biodiversity to climate stability.

The high seas cover around two-thirds of the global ocean, with the deep sea making up the majority of that area. These are rich, biodiverse, complex environments. Underwater features like seamounts support dense and diverse ecosystems which serve as important feeding grounds for migratory species such as whales and sharks. The high seas also play a critical role in regulating the climate, absorbing heat and carbon and helping to buffer the impacts of global warming. Organisations like the Australian Marine Conservation Society and the World Wide Fund for Nature have consistently made the point that ocean health and climate action are closely linked. You cannot address one without addressing the other.

One of the most important features of this treaty is that it finally creates a pathway for establishing marine protected areas on the high seas. Until now, governance of these areas has been fragmented with no clear global mechanism to create large-scale ocean sanctuaries in international waters. This agreement changes that. It provides the legal foundation for countries to work together to establish protected areas where ecosystems can recover and biodiversity can be conserved over the long term. However, there is a significant gap to close.

At present, less than one per cent of the high seas is highly or fully protected. The global goal is to protect 30 per cent by 2030, which will require action at a scale and speed we have not seen before, protecting vast areas of ocean within a relatively short timeframe. This treaty will be essential to achieving that goal.

The treaty also addresses marine genetic resources, ensuring that the benefits derived from their use are shared fairly. This is an important principle, particularly for countries that have not historically had the same access to these resources. It also introduces tools to safeguard against the threats of deep-sea mining, including marine protected areas and environmental impact assessments. This is especially relevant as countries like Australia expand into critical minerals and deep-sea mining.

We have seen in the past how resource booms can deliver economic benefits but also leave lasting environmental damage when they are not properly managed. This is an opportunity to take a different approach and avoid the mistakes of the past. It is an opportunity to set clearer rules from the outside, grounded in international law, including international human rights law, and to implement the precautionary principle. As new industries develop, including in the deep sea, we need to make sure that we are not trading long-term environmental health for short-term gain and that the protection of these ecosystems remains front and centre.

The agreement has been designed to sit alongside existing arrangements such as regional fisheries management organisations. In practice, the interaction between these systems is likely to be complex, and there will be questions about how decisions align and how disputes are resolved. That is something governments will need to manage carefully to ensure that conservation objectives are not undermined. And while this treaty is a landmark step, it is not the only step we must take.

I would also encourage the government to continue strengthening protections within our own marine parks, including reviewing existing arrangements, expanding highly protected areas and ensuring that our domestic efforts reflect the ambition we are supporting internationally. Alongside this, there are other pressures on our oceans that we need to deal with, particularly plastic pollution. Our oceans are under strain from the sheer volume of plastic waste entering the system every year. This is something where there is a large degree of agreement about what needs to happen next domestically.

Environmental groups—organisations like the Boomerang Alliance and Clean Up Australia, as well as the Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation, which is the peak body for the packaging industry—have all called for a mandatory extended producer responsibility scheme for packaging. Put simply, this would mean making companies that produce plastic packaging responsible for what happens to it, including how it's designed to be reused or recycled and contributing to the cost of collecting and processing it. It's a practical reform, one that would make a real difference. The government has already done the consultation work on plastics policy, revealing widespread support for the extended producer responsibility. Now it's a matter of just getting on with it.

Returning to the bill before us, the high seas treaty provides an opportunity to better manage existing and emerging risks in the deep ocean, such as bottom trawling, deep-sea mining and other activities where the environmental impacts are still uncertain. Having a framework that supports precaution and proper environmental assessment is essential, and this legislation is an important step. It establishes the framework we need to better protect the high seas, and ratifying it positions Australia to play a constructive role in that effort. I commend the government for bringing this bill forward, and I support its passage. I also acknowledge the work of the Australian environmental and conservation organisations, scientists and advocates who have contributed to this outcome over many, many years. Their efforts have been critical in getting us to this point. I commend this bill to the House.

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