Peter Lindsay (Herbert, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is addressed to the Minister for Transport and Regional Services. Would the minister advise the House how basing a new emergency vessel in North Queensland will help to ensure the protection of Australia’s maritime environment?

Warren Truss (Wide Bay, National Party, Minister for Transport and Regional Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The honourable member for Herbert will remember that last year he and I announced that the Australian government would be locating an emergency towage vessel permanently in North Queensland. That is an important announcement and an important step forward, because these are increasingly busy waters to our north and, of course, it is a very fragile and important environmental area for Australia. So last week it was a particular pleasure for my wife and me to be in Cairns to commission the ETV, Pacific Responder. This vessel will provide an emergency towage capability in our northern waters for the first time. Whilst there are important shipping lanes in that region, there are actually no tugs in that area capable of undertaking emergency towage work and when there have been incidents in the past—fortunately, not too often—it has been necessary to bring in a vessel from southern Queensland or the southern states or even Singapore.

But now there will be a vessel permanently located in the region—and what a fine vessel it is. It will be the biggest tug in Australia, so it has enormous capacity to help, to respond promptly in the event of there ever being an incident in North Queensland. Obviously, it will be called out only occasionally, and in the interim it will do work tending the various navigational aids and other vital facilities in northern waters. It will spend considerable time cruising in that area to make sure that all of the important navigational aids and other maritime facilities are effectively maintained and cared for. So the presence of this vessel adds a new mantle of safety to that region. For the first time we will have emergency towage capabilities in our northern waters, and it will add to a network of vessels all the way around the coast which will be on a first-call basis in the event of there being an emergency maritime incident anywhere around Australia. This important gap is being filled. Our pristine environmental areas, such as the Great Barrier Reef, are much safer as a result of this initiative, and it adds a new dimension to Australia’s capacity to respond to maritime incidents in our environment.