Deborah O'Neill (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Innovation) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak to the Underwater Cultural Heritage Bill 2018 and the consequential and transitional provisions. Labor supports the Underwater Cultural Heritage Bill. The purpose of the bill, as stated, indicates that it aims to update the original aims as laid out in Historic Shipwrecks Act 1976 to maintain compliance with modern standards of regulatory compliance and enforcement. The original 1976 act was last amended in 1985. That does not account for the changes in Australian and international law after the ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which happened in 1994. This includes the rights and obligations extended to states in the convention that were not outlined in the original act.

This bill triggers parts of the Regulatory Powers Act 2014 providing for monitoring and investigative powers, and enforcement provisions including civil penalties and infringement notices. Contraventions of the act will be regulated more strictly to reflect the extensive national cultural legacy of Australia's underwater cultural heritage. There is also an expansion of the protective scope of this bill. This includes replacement of the terms referring to 'shipwrecks' and 'wrecks' with terms referring instead to 'underwater cultural heritage'. The protective scope of the bill includes articles that appear to have been constructed or used by a person associated with a vessel, and provides for the protection of secondary heritage sites such as shipwreck survivor or salvage camps. Certain articles of underwater cultural heritage are automatically protected, in contrast to the previous ministerial approach under the Historic Shipwrecks Act. The minister may still declare articles to be protected, but they will now be assessed against prescribed significance criteria.

Whilst the bill does not seek to assert sovereignty over waters that are not considered Australian under international law, it will also include a clause to protect Australian underwater cultural heritage articles located outside Australian waters. This bill also has provisions to limit and regulate the possession and movement of underwater cultural heritage material that has been removed from Australian waters. Labor supports this bill.

Anne Ruston (SA, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Before commending the bills to the Senate, could I table an addendum to the explanatory memorandum relating to the Underwater Cultural Heritage Bill 2018 and related bill. The addendum responds to concerns raised by the Scrutiny of Bills Committee. I commend the bills to the Senate.

Question agreed to.

Bills read a second time.