Chapter 1
Introduction
Referral of inquiry and terms of reference
1.1
On 24 March 2014, the Senate referred Australia's future activities and
responsibilities in the Southern Ocean and Antarctic waters to the Foreign
Affairs, Defence and Trade References Committee for inquiry and report by 28
August 2014.[1]
The reporting date was subsequently extended to 29 October 2014.[2]
1.2
The inquiry's terms of reference were as follows:
Australia’s future activities and responsibilities in the
Southern Ocean and Antarctic waters, including:
(a) Australia’s management and monitoring of the Southern
Ocean in relation to illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing;
(b) cooperation with international partners on management and
research under international treaties and agreements;
(c) appropriate resourcing in the Southern Ocean and
Antarctic territory for research and governance; and
(d) any other related matters.
Conduct of the inquiry
1.3
The committee advertised the inquiry on its website and in the media,
inviting submissions to be lodged by 1 July 2014. The committee also wrote
directly to a range of people and organisations likely to have an interest in
matters covered by the terms of reference, inviting them to make written
submissions.
1.4
The committee received 23 submissions to the inquiry. The submissions
are listed at Appendix 1, and are available on the committee's website
at www.aph.gov.au/senate_fadt. Additional information, tabled documents and
answers to questions on notice received during the inquiry are listed at Appendix
2, and are also available on the website.
1.5
The committee visited Tasmania on 15-16 September 2014. On 15 September
the committee visited the Australian Antarctic Division's headquarters in
Kingston, and toured the ships Aurora Australis and RV Investigator at
Princes Wharf in Hobart. On 16 September the committee held a public hearing at
the Hobart Function and Conference Centre. On 26 September, a second public
hearing was held at Parliament House in Canberra. A list of the witnesses who
appeared at the hearings is at Appendix 3. The Hansard transcripts of
both hearings are available on the committee's website.
Structure of the report
1.6
The committee's report is in six chapters. Chapter 2 discusses the
international context for Australia's interests and obligations in the Southern
Ocean, and the key principles of Australian policy in the region. Chapter 3
examines threats posed by transnational crime and other illicit activities,
particularly illegal fishing, and Australia's response. Chapter 4 considers the
environmental importance of the Southern Ocean, scientific research issues, and
maritime mapping. Chapter 5 assesses present and proposed future resourcing for
Australia's activities in the southern waters, potential economic benefits, and
strengthening management and coordination to maximise the efficiency and
effectiveness of our engagement. Chapter 6 provides the committee's conclusion.
Background
Australia's maritime jurisdiction
in the Southern Ocean
1.7
Australia's Antarctic and sub-Antarctic marine jurisdictions cover a
substantial geographic area, totalling more than five million square kilometres
and comprising some 30 per cent of Australia's entire marine jurisdiction.[3]
In addition to the Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ) and continental shelves
directly off Australia's southern mainland and Tasmania's coast, there are
several areas of Australian maritime jurisdiction further south.
1.8
Australia asserts sovereignty over approximately 42 per cent of the
Antarctic continent, known as the Australian Antarctic Territory (AAT), and
this extends to its adjacent offshore waters. Australia's sovereignty over the
AAT is not universally recognised, but under the 1959 Antarctic Treaty[4]
all sovereign claims in Antarctica are effectively suspended in time: no new or
expanded claims may be made while the Treaty is in force, and no act undertaken
by its parties can constitute a basis for confirming or disputing an existing
claim.[5]
In line with an established understanding among Treaty parties in this regard,
Australia exercises sovereign rights and takes responsibility for management of
this area, but enforces its domestic law in the AAT only against Australian
nationals.[6]
1.9
Australia exercises universally-recognised sovereignty over the Territory
of Heard Island and McDonald Islands (HIMI) in the southern Indian Ocean, and
over Macquarie Island in the sub-Antarctic Southern Ocean. HIMI is an external
territory of Australia, while Macquarie Island is part of Tasmania.
1.10 The HIMI territorial sea and EEZ lies mostly outside the jurisdiction of the
Antarctic Treaty, but falls within the larger area covered by the Convention on
the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CAMLR Convention),[7]
and is treated as part of Australia's Antarctic jurisdiction for most purposes.
As a result of its sovereignty over HIMI and Macquarie Island, Australia also
enjoys exclusive rights to seabed resources in a vast area of extended
continental shelf in the Southern Ocean.[8]
© Commonwealth of Australia
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The Antarctic Treaty System and
other international agreements
1.11
The Antarctic Treaty System (ATS) provides the overarching international
framework for the governance of the land and waters south of 60° South latitude, an area which includes a
large portion of the Southern Ocean as well as the Antarctic continent itself,
and incorporates part of Australia's Antarctic marine jurisdiction.[9]
The Antarctic Treaty is the principal treaty of the ATS, and was negotiated
between its original 12 parties with the intention 'to ensure that Antarctica
would remain a place where science predominated and disagreements were resolved
peacefully'.[10]
Several other treaties have been added over the ensuing years to form the ATS,
key among them the CAMLR Convention, and the (Madrid) Protocol on Environmental
Protection and its annexes.[11]
The network of agreements comprising the ATS now governs many of the issues
that arise in the region and its waters, including prevention of conflict,
environmental protection, resource exploitation, fisheries management and
scientific research.
1.12
Australia was one of the original signatories to the Antarctic Treaty,
which now has 50 parties: 29 'Consultative Parties' who are actively engaged in
Antarctic research and are entitled to participate in decision-making under the
Treaty, and 21 'Non-Consultative Parties' who do not maintain stations in
Antarctica, but whose citizens may participate in scientific research.[12]
1.13
Beyond the ATS, various other international treaties also apply to Australia's
activities within the Antarctic marine area and in the greater Southern Ocean. Much
of the Southern Ocean is high seas, under which the various instruments and
doctrines of the international law of the sea apply. Notably, Australia is
responsible for coordinating search and rescue in a large portion of the
Southern Ocean, under the International Convention on Maritime Search and
Rescue[13]
and other treaties.[14]
The same sea area constitutes the Australian Security Forces Authority Area for
the purpose of International Maritime Organisation (IMO) security arrangements,
within which Australia is responsible for dealing with acts of violence against
ships.[15]
1.14
Bilaterally, Australia has concluded more than 15 memoranda of
understanding for policy, science and operational cooperation with other
nations in Antarctica and its waters, most of which are negotiated and managed
between the Australian Antarctic Division (AAD) of the Department of the
Environment and counterparts' Antarctic programs.[16]
Recent developments
20-year
Australian Antarctic Strategic Plan
1.15
The 20-year Australian Antarctic Strategic Plan (20 Year Strategic Plan)
was commissioned by the government in late 2013, and prepared by Dr Tony Press,
former Director of AAD and Chief Executive Officer of the Antarctic Climate and
Ecosystem Cooperative Research Centre (ACE CRC). Dr Press appeared as a witness
at the committee's public hearing in Hobart on 16 September.
1.16
The completed Plan was presented to the Minister for the Environment in July
2014, and publicly released on 10 October 2014. The Plan offered 35 recommendations
covering a broad range of aspects of Australia's role in Antarctica, including Australia's
strategic priorities, engagement in the ATS, scientific research, logistics,
government resourcing, coordination of activities, and maximising the benefits
of Antarctic work in Tasmania.[17]
The Plan's recommendations are listed at Appendix 4.
1.17
The Plan emphasised the importance for Australia of ensuring that the
ATS remained strong and stable and of investing in science, operations and
infrastructure to maintain Australia's place as a leading Antarctic nation. It
also made several recommendations for further work to establish Hobart as the
world's leading Antarctic gateway.
1.18
Upon the Plan's release, the government described it as 'a blueprint for
Australia's future engagement in the region'. The Hon Greg Hunt MP, Minister
for the Environment, said the government would consider the report in detail
and consult widely on its recommendations before providing a formal response in
the coming months.[18]
1.19
The key findings and recommendations of the Plan on matters covered by
this committee's inquiry are discussed further in the relevant sections of this
report.
Whaling
in the Southern Ocean
1.20
This inquiry also follows a landmark decision by the International Court
of Justice (ICJ) in relation to Japanese whaling in the Southern Ocean. In
2010, the Australian Government initiated legal action in the ICJ challenging
Japan's lethal whaling program. The case was heard by the court in 2013.
1.21
In its judgment, handed down on 31 March 2014, the ICJ determined that
the killing of whales under Japan's program could not be justified as being for
the purposes of scientific research as permitted under the International Convention
for the Regulation of Whaling (ICRW),[19]
and that Japan had not acted in conformity with various obligations under the
ICRW.[20]
The court did not outlaw altogether the use of "reasonable" lethal
methods for whale research, but stated its expectation that Japan would take
account of its reasoning and conclusions when considering whether to grant
future whaling permits.[21]
1.22
Following the decision, Japan indicated its intention to abide by the
judgment, and announced that it would conduct non-lethal research in the
Southern Ocean in the 2014-15 season, while redesigning its lethal whaling
program to resume in 2015-16.[22]
1.23
At the most recent International Whaling Commission (IWC) meeting held
in September 2014 in Slovenia, the Commission passed a non-binding resolution, proposed
by New Zealand and supported by Australia and others, requiring members to take
into consideration the ICJ decision in the development of its future scientific
whaling programs, and to put such programs before the full Commission for guidance
prior to their implementation. In response, Japan indicated that it did not
accept the terms of the resolution, and re-affirmed that it would re-commence 'scientific'
whaling in 2015.[23]
Australian
vessels
1.24
A number of key decisions in 2014 impact on the fleet of national
research, supply and patrol vessels available to Australia for use in the Southern
Ocean and Antarctic waters.
1.25
Australia's dedicated Antarctic research and supply 'icebreaker' ship,
the Aurora Australis, is managed by the AAD. The Aurora Australis
is an aging vessel due to retire, and discussions have been under way for some
years regarding its replacement. The government announced in the 2014 Budget
that the commissioning of a replacement vessel would proceed, and the Minister
for the Environment subsequently announced that two companies had been
shortlisted to tender for the construction of the new vessel. A contract with
the successful tenderer is to be signed in late 2015, with the new vessel
expected to be ready for operation in October 2019.[24]
1.26
The CSIRO Marine National Facility operates a vessel equipped and
dedicated to the conduct of scientific research in Australian and surrounding
waters. Following the retirement of the previous vessel, the Southern
Surveyor in 2013, the new RV Investigator arrived in Hobart in
September 2014. Assessment of research proposals and technical preparations are
now taking place for the ship to commence active deployment from 2015.
1.27
The Australian Customs and Border Protection Service (ACBPS)
maintains only one vessel with the capacity to patrol the ice-prone areas of
the Southern Ocean. The most recent vessel, ACV Ocean Protector, was
decommissioned in mid-2014. In its place, ACBPS has commissioned the
ice-strengthened Australian Defence Force (ADF) vessel, the ADV Ocean Shield,
which will ultimately be transferred to the management of ACBPS. The Ocean
Shield is a sister ship to the Ocean Protector, so
essentially identical in its capabilities, and is the only vessel in the border
protection fleet with the range, endurance and sea and ice capability to
operate in the Southern Ocean.[25]
Like the Ocean Protector before it, the Ocean Shield will be
allocated to meet all of Australia's border protection and humanitarian
response needs as required, on a priority basis. In fact, due to competing
priorities in Australia's northern waters, the Ocean Protector had
conducted no patrols in the Southern Ocean since February 2012.
1.28
The ACBPS is also in the process of acquiring eight new Cape
class patrol vessels, however, these are not suited for operations in the
Southern Ocean and Antarctic waters.[26]
1.29
For its part, the ADF has little capacity to operate in the
Southern Ocean. The navy possesses one ice-strengthened vessel with limited
capability to operate in light ice (HMAS Choules), but the
remainder of the fleet is not well suited to operate in sub-Antarctic waters.
The Air Force has aircraft with the range to operate in the region, including
the AP-3C Orion patrol plane and the C-17A Globemaster transport aircraft, but
competing demand for these assets is high. The Department of Defence advised
the committee that while the ADF was acquiring new capabilities which may have
the ability to work in the Southern Ocean region, they had not been acquired
specifically with that environment in mind, and 'the extent to which they are
able to do so will depend on the threat environment and other demands on their
capability.'[27]
The
2014 Budget
1.30
Significant controversy surrounded the impact of the 2014 Federal Budget
on Australia's scientific, operational and other work in the Antarctic region. The
government highlighted new funding in support of Australia's leadership as an
Antarctic nation as one of the flagship outcomes of the budget, drawing
attention to the commitment to procure a new icebreaker as a major
demonstration of its commitment to both Tasmania and Antarctica.[28]
Other new initiatives announced in the budget were $24 million over three years
for a new Antarctic Gateway Partnership for scientific research between AAD,
the University of Tasmania and CSIRO (to be administered by the Australian
Research Council), $25 million over five years for the continued work of the Antarctic
Climate and Ecosystems Cooperative Research Centre (ACE CRC), and $38 million
to upgrade Hobart airport.[29]
1.31
In addition, the government announced an additional $45.3 million to
support the Antarctic airlink, $13.4 million for logistics support, and $9.4
million for the maintenance of Australia's Antarctic bases.[30]
1.32
At the same time, core budget and staffing cuts to the Department of the
Environment, CSIRO and other agencies and programs were severe, and expected to
compromise Australia's ability to maintain its scientific and operational
activities in the region.[31]
The annual appropriation to the Department of the Environment for its Antarctic
program was cut from $136.4 million in 2013-14 to $107.8 million in 2014-15,
with a further $17.8 million to be cut over the four-year forward estimates.[32]
This formed part of an overall foreshadowed $100 million cut to the Department
of the Environment's core budget over four years, which it was expected would
lead to the loss of around 670 jobs department-wide.[33]
1.33
For its part, the CSIRO was facing the biggest cut to its budget in
recent memory. While $65.7 million was allocated over four years for the
operation of the new research vessel RV Investigator, core funding was
cut by $27 million in 2014-15 as part of $111.4 million in direct reductions over
the four year estimates, with the additional loss of an efficiency dividend of
$3.4 million.[34]
It was widely reported that CSIRO would lose more than 500 positions, including
significant losses from its marine and atmospheric research areas.[35]
Acknowledgements
1.34
The committee thanks all those who contributed to the inquiry by making
submissions, providing additional information and appearing at the public
hearings. The committee is also grateful to the staff of AAD and CSIRO who facilitated
and hosted its site visits in Tasmania.
Note on references
1.35
References to the committee Hansard are to the proof Hansard. Page
numbers may vary between the proof and the official Hansard transcript.
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