Tanya Plibersek (Sydney, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Environment and Water) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

This bill will give effect to Australia's international obligations arising out of two amendments to the London protocol agreed to in 2009 and 2013.

Australia is a contracting party to the London protocol, on the prevention of marine pollution by sea dumping of wastes and other matter.

This bill would amend the Environment Protection (Sea Dumping) Act 1981 to implement Australia's international obligations under that London protocol.

I note that this enacting legislation was recently recommended by the House Standing Committee on Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water in its recent inquiry into the London protocol. I thank the members of the committee for that work.

The bipartisan committee, which included members from the government, the opposition and the crossbench, found that ratifying these amendments would 'place Australia in good stead regarding its regional foreign policy objectives, given the clear interest from traditional trading partners'.

Throughout the inquiry, the committee heard from experts such as Dr Constantinos Yiallourides of the Centre for Environmental Law. Dr Yiallourides recommended that this be ratified from a global environmental law perspective as it builds harmonisation across borders and foregrounds any of these activities and other requirements in the London protocol, which he acknowledges is the most specialised provisions that we currently have.

I thank the committee for their work.

The Climate Change Authority has recently come to a similar conclusion, noting in its recent policy paper that Australia's ratification of these amendments would promote consistency across international, national and subnational regulatory approaches to better enable cooperation on emissions reduction.

The sea dumping act regulates the loading, dumping and incineration of waste at sea and the placement of artificial reefs within Australian waters.

It also prohibits disposal of material into the ocean that is considered too harmful to be released into the marine environment without a robust assessment and approval permitting process.

Australia has agreed to the 2009 amendment to the London protocol to enable the export of carbon dioxide (CO2) streams for the purpose of carbon sequestration in sub-seabed geological formations—also known as carbon capture and storage.

In 2013, another amendment was adopted by the contracting parties to the London protocol to allow regulation of the placement of wastes, or other matter, for legitimate scientific research activities into marine geoengineering, such as ocean fertilisation.

Regulating this type of activity, though a robust application, assessment and approval permitting process, would ensure that only legitimate scientific research activities exploring options to reduce atmospheric CO2 can proceed. This amendment also provides for regulating other potentially harmful marine geoengineering research activities should they emerge in the future.

These amendments ensure that legitimate scientific research institutions and other organisations will be able to conduct marine geoengineering research with legal certainty while ensuring the marine environment is protected from the impacts of those activities.

While these amendments were agreed to by parties to the protocol in 2009 and 2013 respectively, neither has yet entered into force.

Once the sea dumping act is amended to include the 2009 CO2 export amendment, Australia may deposit a declaration of provisional application to the International Maritime Organization as part of the ratification process.

This means that Australia can start regulating both the import and the export of CO2 streams for sequestration into sub-seabed geological formations sooner, rather than waiting for the 2009 amendment to come into force for all parties internationally.

Companies would be able to better plan for transboundary projects for carbon capture and storage into sub-seabed geological formations within a clear regulatory framework. Until then, this export activity is not permitted under the sea dumping act.

It is important to note that projects from domestic proponents are already allowed under existing Australian law.

The bill would also update the sea dumping act by making minor consequential amendments to enable the effective implementation and enforcement of these new permits.

It would also make minor technical amendments to clarify existing provisions in the sea dumping act and adopt modern drafting practices.

The regulatory framework for sequestration of CO2 into sub-seabed formations and scientific research for marine geoengineering activities will be comprehensive and include strict guidelines.

In summary, these changes to the sea dumping act will meet Australia's international obligations under the London protocol. It will also protect and preserve the marine environment from potential environmental risks, through a robust, comprehensive and science based regulatory framework.

Debate adjourned.