Ian Macdonald (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Justice and Customs. The minister, Senator Abetz and, indeed, all senators will be very proud of the work that the Customs marine officers and the Australian fisheries officers do in protecting Australian sovereignty and Australian fisheries in the Southern Ocean. I ask the minister if he can update us on initiatives that have happened in the protection of our sovereignty in fisheries in the Southern Ocean since the days of the chase of the Viarsa, which is well known, and since the more recent arrest of the Taruman in Macquarie Island waters and the even more recent conviction of the captain and one crew member of that vessel. I ask the minister if he could update us on initiatives in the Southern Ocean.

Chris Ellison (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Justice and Customs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Ian Macdonald is quite right to point to the great work being done by Australian fisheries officers and Customs marine personnel in the protection of our sovereign waters and particularly the fisheries in the Southern Ocean. As Senator Ian Macdonald has pointed out, it is a whole-of-government approach, with fisheries on one hand—for which Senator Abetz has responsibility—and Customs on the other, for which I have responsibility.

Recently Australia signed an agreement with France in relation to an enforcement cooperation treaty on our efforts in the Southern Ocean, particularly with regard to the exclusive economic zone around Heard and Macdonald islands. This was an important step forward in our activities in the Southern Ocean and increased further the great cooperation that we are having with France in patrolling these southern waters. In particular, most French patrols will have Australian personnel on them—and vice versa, with Australian patrols having French personnel on them. That is very important. This is built on great work done over a period of years. I point to the Australia-France Surveillance Treaty, which came into force on 1 February 2005. That laid a foundation for the cooperation that we see today.

Senator Ian Macdonald did a great deal to set that up and also in relation to the work done with French ministers. Senator Ian Macdonald also went to Reunion, as I recall, to promote the patrols by France and Australia, which work in synchronisation with each other. Of course, the coordination of our surveillance is very important. There has been a long line of hard work to set up the cooperative effort that we now see in the Southern Ocean today. The effort has yielded great success. There has been great work by our personnel in carrying out very important work in the protection of our sovereign waters and our fisheries, as Senator Macdonald alluded to in his question.

It is interesting that, as a result of enforcement activity, there have been no sightings of illegal fishing vessels in Australia’s southern exclusive economic zone around Heard and Macdonald islands for more than 12 months. It is worth recalling that since 1997 nine vessels have been apprehended for illegal fishing. That has resulted in consequential action with the seizure of vessels and the prosecution of the people concerned. Senator Ian Macdonald has rightly pointed to the Taruman; there was a recent successful prosecution of the main players involved in that.

In the 2005-06 budget, resourcing of a further $217 million was announced to progress this initiative out to the year 2010. That is very good news for the patrolling of Australia’s sovereign waters and the protection of her fisheries. We had a situation in the Southern Ocean where there was illegal fishing. We had effective action taken by Australia, and we are now seeing the results of that. That was the result of very good work over a period of time. We acknowledge the great cooperation that we get from France in relation to this task.