Chris Trevor (Flynn, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Resources and Energy. Will the minister inform the House of the implications of the expansion of Australia’s continental shelf for the resources sector?

Martin Ferguson (Batman, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Resources and Energy) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Flynn for this question. As a member who represents a resource-rich seat, he understands and appreciates the importance of this United Nations decision. The decision flows from the ratification by the previous Labor government of the 1982 Convention on the Law of the Sea. Giving credit where credit is due, I would also like to compliment my own agency, Geoscience Australia, which, in partnership with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Attorney-General’s Department, pursued an extension of Australia’s continental shelf over a period in excess of a decade. For Geoscience Australia this amounted to work at sea over a 10-year period, including two years full-time seismic work. They are to be complimented on the dedicated manner in which they pursued this application on behalf of Australia, the most successful application to date by any nation through the United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf. It effectively represents an extension of our continental shelf of 2.5 million square kilometres. That is a great achievement, the application being for 2.8 million square kilometres.

It is an area that is potentially resource rich for Australia, a potential bonanza for this nation not only in terms of scarce oil and gas reserves but also potentially for biological resources such as micro-organisms that could be used in medicines. The area is effectively five times the size of France, seven times the size of Germany and 10 times the size of New Zealand.

It is now our responsibility as a government building Australia’s foundations for the 21st century to work with industry to put in place a modern 21st-century incentive regime which enables us to explore these opportunities. That is not going to be easy because we are talking about deep sea drilling—highly risky and extremely expensive. On behalf of the government I simply say that we are going to go forward with this challenge in partnership with the private sector. It is exceptionally important for resource and energy security not only for Australia but also for the region in which we live. Just think about this: why do we need to succeed on this front? Australia will potentially have a $25 billion trade deficit in petroleum products by 2015. So it is our responsibility to work with our agencies to try to secure a new Bass Strait. That is about a proper focus on the exploration industry’s attention to new deep sea frontiers.

In conclusion, I simply want to say that this is about enhancing our nation’s future energy security. It is one of the prime responsibilities of government. Just as we are building the foundations of a sound economic future for Australia in the budget pro-cess this evening, we will also pursue energy security—one of the key concerns of Australia and the global community.