Ursula Stephens (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary Assisting the Prime Minister for Social Inclusion) Share this | Hansard source

In summing up the debate on this important piece of legislation, I thank Senator Macdonald for his contribution and for his acknowledgement that the Protection of the Sea Legislation Amendment Bill 2008 is being supported by all parties. It is an important piece of legislation and one that needs to be put in place. The supplementary fund protocol was adopted in 2003 by the International Maritime Organisation, and it entered into force internationally on 3 March 2005. It goes without saying that it is a long time between 2005 and this legislation actually coming into the parliament. It is a piece of legislation that this government was certainly keen to ensure was enacted as quickly as possible.

The bill will ensure that compensation to Australian victims following an oil spill from a tanker incident is maximised and that adequate financial resources are provided for clean-up costs, economic loss, property damage and to help with the natural recovery of Australia’s affected marine environment. From a global perspective and for our international reputation, it is important that Australia becomes a contracting party to the supplementary fund protocol because our ratification will add support to the protocol and will encourage more countries to become parties—so it is a very significant piece of international legislation from our perspective.

We are very fortunate, as Senator Macdonald said, that we have not had any oil spills in Australia on the scale of some of those that have occurred overseas. The two most significant incidents involved the Princess Anne Marie off the Western Australian coast in 1975, where approximately 15,000 tonnes of oil were spilt, and the Kirki, also off the Western Australian coast, in 1991, where approximately 18,000 tonnes of crude oil were spilt. Since that time we have been free of those kinds of disasters and we certainly want to ensure that, in the unfortunate circumstance such an oil spill were to occur again, we have comprehensive arrangements in place to respond. Yet, in spite of the dedication and professionalism of the men and women involved in response activities, there is still the potential for significant pollution damage and for this to affect a range of industries and, of course, our pristine marine environment.

The bill, as we have heard, creates a third tier of compensation for damage resulting from spills of oil from an oil tanker so that the maximum amount payable increases up to 750 million special drawing rights—approximately $1.3 billion per incident. The bill also ensures that compensation to Australian victims following an oil spill from a tanker incident is maximised and that adequate financial resources are provided for clean-up costs, economic loss, property damage and to help with the natural recovery of Australia’s affected marine environment. The bill also amends the Protection of the Sea (Prevention of Pollution from Ships) Act 1983 and the Navigation Act 1912, giving effect to those MARPOL amendments, and it amends the ship levy legislation relating to those important definitions of what is meant by ‘an Australian port’ and a ‘collector’, and to that end it is very good legislation for our environment and I certainly commend it to the Senate.

Question agreed to.

Bill read a second time.