- Contributing to Australia's economic and social development
- There are five Antarctic Gateway cities in the southern hemisphere which provide essential logistical support, research facilities, and access points for expeditions to Antarctica. These five cities are Hobart (Australia), Christchurch (New Zealand), Punta Arenas (Chile), Ushuaia (Argentina), and Cape Town (South Africa). The strategic locations of these cities enable the efficient movement of resources and personnel, enabling scientific exploration and international cooperation in the region.
- Hobart is one of only a few places to naturally serve as an Antarctic Gateway to the vast East Antarctic, the sub-Antarctic, and the Southern Ocean. Australia is not alone in using Hobart as an Antarctic Gateway. Over each austral summer, the city hosts researchers and vessels from the national Antarctic programs of several other nations.
Australia’s Antarctic Gateway
5.3Hobart’s status as an Antarctic Gateway gives rise to considerable economic benefits. The Tasmanian Government undertakes semi-regular assessments of the Antarctic sector’s expenditure both nationally and within Tasmania. The most recent available figures are set out at Table 5.1 and demonstrate a gradual increase in expenditure by the sector over the past decade to 2021–22. It shows that expenditure by Antarctic organisations in Australia has gradually risen from $204.80million in 2011–12 to $386.13 million in 2021–22 following a small downturn of expenditure during the 2015–16 and 2017–18 financial years respectively (196.16million and $196.66 million). Table 5.1 also shows a correlation in expenditure by Antarctic organisations in Tasmania rising from $119.47 million in 2011–12 to $183.09 million in 2021–22, demonstrating much of the expenditure by Antarctic organisations in Australia is spent in Tasmania.
Table 5.1Value of Antarctic sector 2011–12 to 2021–22
| | |
2011–12 | $204.80 million | $119.47 million |
2015–16 | $196.16 million | $117.01 million |
2017–18 | $196.66 million | $123.97 million |
2019–20 | $230.36 million | $159.39 million |
2021–22 | $386.13 million | $183.09 million |
Note: Values are in 2021-22 prices.Source: Tasmanian Government Department of State Growth
5.4In addition to its economy wide outcomes, the Antarctic sector delivers on strong wages for those it employs locally. Summarising its findings on employment within the Antarctic sector, as measured in full time equivalents (FTE), the Tasmania Government states that:
The Antarctic sector employed 993 FTE (not including expeditioners or Ph.D. students) in Tasmania in 2021–22, 0.43 per cent of total Tasmanian employment and a 32 per cent increase for the prior decade. The average wage of staff employed in the public sector was $141,380, 43 per cent higher than the comparable figure for Tasmania as a whole.
5.5Tasmania also derives considerable value by frequently playing host to national and international conferences on Antarctica and the Southern Ocean. During 2023–24, four conferences were held, each attracting between 300 and 500 people to Hobart. A recent study by Business Events Tasmania in 2024 found that ‘business visitors and conference delegates spend up to $1,370 a day and stay for almost five days perperson, per trip’, and frequently return to the State as tourists within three years of their business travel.
Hobart City Deal
5.6In 2019, the Australian Government, the Tasmanian Government, and the local governments of the City of Hobart, Clarence City, Glenorchy City, and Kingsborough entered into an agreement named the Hobart City Deal (HCD). The HCD spans six key focus areas ranging from urban renewal to infrastructure development. A key focus area of the agreement is Hobart’s status as a ‘Gateway to the Antarctic and Southern Ocean’, to be realised through the development of an ‘Antarctic and Science Precinct at Macquarie Point’ in the Port of Hobart. The ultimate objective of this key focus area is summarised in the HDC as being to:
Solidify Hobart’s world class standing as a gateway to the Antarctic and Southern Ocean to attract business, research, tourism and other economically beneficial activity.
5.7The Tasmanian Government told the Committee that an Antarctic and Science Precinct would have the potential to ‘bring together a number of the significant Antarctic and Southern Ocean organisations currently based in Tasmania’ and ‘enhance collaboration in science and logistical activity’. On 15 October 2023, the Macquarie Point draft Precent Plan was released. The Precinct Plan includes an Antarctic Facilities Zone, which the Tasmanian Government states, ‘could become a focus point for Antarctic related activity’ and attract ‘international research investment’.
5.8The Tasmanian Government submits that the Australian Antarctic Division (AAD), the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), the Integrated Marine Observing System, and the University of Tasmania’s Institute for Marine and Antarctic Science (IMAS) have ‘previously expressed interest in being part of this development’.
5.9Professor Rufus Black, Vice-Chancellor and President, University of Tasmania, indicated that for some years ‘various relatively developed proposals have emerged’ for the Precinct. Professor Black gave evidence in support of the project stating that:
If there was an opportunity that saw all of those in Hobart brought together in one place—ourselves, AAD, CSIRO—with a shared set of facilities to better enable science, we would certainly be open to that. More than open to that: we've collaborated with those who've sought to develop those ideas over time, because that vision has the potential to advance science quite significantly.
5.10Ms Georgie Branch, Project Manager, International and Strategic Partnerships, City of Hobart Council, advised the Committee that, from the perspective of those involved in the process, ‘negotiations, meetings and progress’ on the Antarctic and Science Precinct ‘have definitely slowed’. On the status of the Precinct, Ms Branch stated that:
The precinct concept is still identified as part of the precinct master planning, but it's going to be a much-reduced footprint. I think it's just over a hectare now, which is a lot less than people in the sector were expecting as a future opportunity for them and their businesses…While there is still potential for them to be all housed together, in that smaller footprint, if that's not realised or if not all those tenants end up anchoring that site, we're still very closely connected and we would be re-imagining that gateway Antarctic site's precinct concept.
5.11Ms Branch expressed disappointment that the precinct would not be realised how the Antarctic sector envisaged, but reiterated that Hobart is a very connected Gateway.
5.12The City of Hobart Council states that ‘without a timely and appropriate investment in Hobart Port and the new Antarctic and Science Precinct, its status as a premier gateway to the Antarctic and Southern Ocean is at risk’. The City of Hobart Council emphasised that ‘the commitment in the Hobart City Deal to a new Antarctic and Science Precinct in Hobart needs to be reinvigorated’, through discussions between governments and prospective core tenants.
5.13As of November 2023, the annual status update on the HCD indicates that land remediation, land release, and development for the Antarctic Facilities Zone remain ‘on track’, with ‘final remediation works and the relocation of utilities to facilitate future development’ underway.
Portside and logistical facilities
Macquarie Wharf Redevelopment Project
5.14As access to Antarctica may only be gained by air or by sea, an Antarctic Gateway must have robust and fit for purpose physical infrastructure to support international flights and large ice-breaking vessels. This reality is reflected in the HCD in which upgrades to the Hobart International Airport and Macquarie Wharf are recognised aspriorities.
5.15Stakeholders generally acknowledged the need for investment in Macquarie Wharf to be targeted at both meeting the future demand from the AAD and the projected demand from other states’ Antarctic programs. The City of Hobart Council submits that the Macquarie Wharf redevelopment is key to ‘future proofing the logistical capability of the Hobart Port to meet the requirements of the Antarctic sector, including as the home port of the Nuyina and many visiting international icebreakers and research vessels’.
5.16The Tasmanian Antarctic Gateway Strategy 2022–27 notes that TasPorts, the State-owned corporation responsible for managing its ports, already provides services for Antarctic research and supply vessels through a dedicated Antarctic and cruise terminal at Macquarie Wharf No. 2. The strategy also mentions that in 2022 a business case was being made for ‘critical wharf upgrades to enable year-round berthing of the new Australian icebreaker RSV Nuyina and summer operations of several other Antarctic and research vessels’. The proposed site for year-round berthing of the RSV Nuyina is Macquarie Wharf No.6.
5.17The Macquarie Wharfs were constructed between 1969–1975 and, while the technical specifications for upgrades to the wharfs are not publicly available, TasPorts has stated that ‘a significant capital upgrade is required to enable futuregrowth’.
5.18The need for upgrades to the Macquarie Wharf No.6 facilities were set out for theCommittee during its site inspection of the RSV Nuyina on 31 July 2024. Duringthe inspection it was clear to the Committee that issues such as the distance between existing cargo handling facilities and the vessel, the dilapidation of wharf infrastructure, and the lack of shore-based power, each required a long-term solution. The unavailability of shore-based power in particular requires that the RSV Nuyina operate diesel engines to power the vessel at port, resulting in considerable and unnecessary fuel loss and greenhouse gas emissions.
5.19The Australian Government and Tasmanian Government disagree on priority access for the RSV Nuyina and the cost, funding, and scope of works associated with the redevelopment of Macquarie Wharf No. 6. On 1 August 2024, Ms Emma Campbell, Head of Division, AAD, Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW), told the Committee that:
We've been working with TasPorts and the Tasmanian government on the arrival of Nuyina and the support for Nuyina for many years. We started proper commercial negotiations with TasPorts in November 2023 on wharf requirements. One of the things—and we got a cost proposal that was very high for us. We've gone back to basics with TasPorts and the Tasmanian government about what we need. I think TasPorts has gone on the public record saying that we had asked for state of the art, top, very expensive wharf facilities. We've really just gone back to the basic things that we need, which is about the descriptions for the wharf. We've provided that to TasPorts.
5.20Mr Craig Limkin PSM, Secretary, Tasmanian Department of State Growth, explained that his department had been engaging with TasPorts and the AAD on the wharf issue since March2023. Mr Limkin made clear that negotiations on resolving the dispute and reaching an agreement were very active at the time of the Committee’s Hobart hearings, stating that:
We met last week. We've got more meetings today. We are under active commercial negotiations to ensure that we can provide a redevelopment of the wharf and wharf site infrastructure at Macquarie Wharf No. 6 to accommodate the Nuyina over a 30-year operational lease of the vessel. Those negotiations continue. We are working in good partnership with our federal government colleagues and look to bring that to decision-making of both governments as quickly as we can.
5.21While negotiations over the wharf redevelopment stalled, media reporting began toquestion whether the RSV Nuyina and Australian Antarctic Program (AAP) couldbe relocated elsewhere within Australia. Mr Sean Sullivan, Deputy Secretary, DCCEEW, reiterated the need to come to an agreement as soon as possible to ‘givecertainty not only for the Australian Antarctic Program but also for Hobart as thegateway’.
Refuelling RSV Nuyina
5.22The RSV Nuyina is a state-of-the-art vessel, representing a multi-billion-dollar investment by the Australian Government spanning its design, construction, and 30-year-long operational life based out of the Port of Hobart. However, the vessel is unable to refuel at the Port. The Committee was advised that while the journey between Macquarie Wharf and the nearest refuelling point at Selfs Point Wharf is short, the RSV Nuyina must pass under the Tasman Bridge, and this access has been denied.
5.23The issues with the RSV Nuyina transiting under Tasman Bridge have attracted significant public scrutiny including by the Senate Standing Committee on Environment and Communications (References) in its report tabled in May 2024.
5.24In short, the AAD worked with TasPorts throughout the design of the RSV Nuyina toensure that the vessel could transit under the Tasman Bridge. In February 2022, theAAD had conditional approval to make the transit, subject to ‘completion of the marine pilot familiarisation program and some simulations’. A formal approval process commenced in January 2021 and then during the vessel assessment process TasPorts ‘raised some concerns’. In August 2023, the AAD was advised thatTasPorts ‘weren't comfortable with Nuyina transiting under the bridge’.
5.25Mr Sullivan advised the Committee that the AAD had always expected to have limitations on when it could transit beneath the Tasman Bridge, and ‘understood thatthere'd be conditionalities put on that with respect to the tide and time’. However,MrSullivan stated that ‘there was a complete turnaround, in our view, from February 2022, where we had conditional approval—and nothing had changed—to then not being approved’.
5.26Without approval to pass under the Tasman Bridge to refuel at Self’s Point—only 4kilometres up the Derwent River—the RSV Nuyina must refuel in the Port of Burnie, approximately 660 kilometres (360 nautical miles) from the Port of Hobart. Inlate 2023, the AAD estimated that the additional cost of refuelling in Burnie for the2023–24 austral summer would be an additional $875, 000. Mr Sullivan has since noted that the journey to Burnie has been used to support the ongoing commissioning of the RSV Nuyina, stating that:
At the moment, we do incur additional cost and time, and it's more a time issue with respect of going to Burnie. However, to some degree, we've been able to use that time to look at additional commissioning of the ship, so it hasn't been wasted in terms of travelling time.
5.27Stakeholders identified as a solution to the RSV Nuyina’s refuelling issue a refuelling barge or bunkering barge to operate out of the Port of Hobart. The Tasmanian Antarctic Gateway Strategy 2022–2027 contemplates that a fuel barge ‘would enable delivery of fuel at berth-side, thereby reducing the demand for vessels to transit under the Tasman Bridge and allowing larger vessels that currently cannot fit under the bridge to take fuel in Hobart’.
5.28Mr Limkin informed the Committee that the Tasmanian Government Department of State Growth had ‘commissioned a review of refuelling solutions’. Mr Limkin noted that in 2023 the Tasmanian Premier asked his department to engage with stakeholders and ‘undertake a market-based process of commercial solutions’. MrLimkin advised that, as of 1August2024, the department was working on an expression of interest document to release to market ‘shortly’, that would ‘enable afuel solution to be tested’.
Intergovernmental resolution
5.29On 16 October 2024, a joint statement was released by the Prime Minister, The HonAnthony Albanese MP, the Minister for the Environment and Water, The HonTanya Plibersek MP, and the Premier of Tasmania, The Hon Jeremy RockliffeMP, announcing a resolution to negotiations over the wharf.
5.30As part of the resolution, the Australian Government agreed to ‘contribute $188 million over four years’ to construct a new Macquarie Wharf No. 6’. Meanwhile, the Tasmanian Government agreed to provide ‘priority access’ to Macquarie Wharf No. 6 for the RSV Nuyina for 30 years, as well as ‘continued access to existing port-side facilities during the construction period, access to shore-side power, and a refuelling solution for RSVNuyina’ in the Port of Hobart.
International Antarctic program spending
5.31Tasmania benefits substantially by serving as a base of operations and as a port of call to the national Antarctic programs of other countries. In the 2023–24 austral summer, Hobart has berthed icebreakers from the United States (US), France, Germany, China, and Chile.
5.32The Port of Hobart has the capacity to service several icebreakers concurrently. Inaddition to Macquarie Wharf No. 6, Wharf No. 4 and Wharf No. 5 can both service icebreakers. Additionally, most of the icebreaking vessels which visit Hobart can transit under the Tasman Bridge and fuel at the port in addition to cargo.
5.33The Tasmanian Antarctic Gateway Strategy 2022–27 notes the important role which Hobart plays for the French National Antarctic Program, the Institut Polaire Français Paul-Émile-Victor (IPEV). The IPEV has used Hobart as its support base for ‘many decades’, and is said to provide ‘valuable support to Hobart-based science programsthrough shipping, logistics and research support’. The French icebreaker MVL’Astrolabe furnishes support for the ‘French station Dumont D’Urville as well as the French-Italian station of Concordia and for the Australian base on Tasmania’s Macquarie Island’.
5.34The Tasmanian Antarctic Gateway Strategy 2022–27 indicates that the formality andstrength of the French and Tasmanian Government’s commitment to French operations out of Hobart is high, stating that:
The Tasmanian Government signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with IPEV on Antarctic Gateway collaboration in 2019. During the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Tasmanian Government provided extensive assistance to IPEV to enable Antarctic operations to continue through Hobart.
5.35In total the IPEV is estimated to inject ‘at least $7 million per annum into the Tasmanian economy’.
5.36The Tasmanian Government notes that other ‘frequent visitors’ to Australia’s Antarctic Gateway include the ‘USA, Korea, Japan, China and Italy, with Germany emerging as a potential future collaborator’. Each of these visits benefits the local economy, with estimates indicating that each such visit brings ‘$2 million’ into theeconomy.
5.37Given the value of visits to the Port of Hobart, the Tasmanian Government has continued to make efforts to attract more Antarctic programs to use the Port. InNovember 2024, the Tasmanian Premier led a trade mission to China which included a visit to the Polar Research Institute of China. It was reported that the visit had ‘the clear purpose’ to invite China’s two Antarctic vessels to ‘re-engage and utilise the Port of Hobart as part of their Antarctic program’, rather than utilising thePort of Fremantle.
5.38The National Antarctic Programs of other countries add to the Tasmanian economy in more ways than simply calling into port at Hobart. Some Tasmanian companies have specialised in manufacturing vital equipment and accommodations capable of withstanding harsh Antarctic conditions. Mr Richard Fader, Chairman, Tasmanian Polar Network, provided an example of inland traverse manufacture in Tasmania, stating that:
In the case of the traverse capability, that requirement came originally from a requirement from the French, and they sold a number of these tractors and a number of these traverse caravans to the French Antarctic Program. That was followed by the Italians, and that was followed by the Chinese, the Americans and now the Australians. So the capability is built from the requirements of the individual Antarctic programs, but it has a consistency across all Antarctic programs. So, once you've got a product that works well for one, it can very easily be, again, sold to the other Antarctic nations.
Antarctica and Australia’s social development
5.39Antarctica has been tied to Australia’s social development for over a century. Australia has a deep and storied Antarctic history which is outlined in Chapter 2. Stakeholders emphasised the need for the Australian public to better understand thishistory, and Australia’s interests in Antarctica.
5.40Monash University (Monash) submits that ‘Australia’s economic and social development are dependent on a citizenry and strategic environmental context that is prepared for and resilient to environmental change’. Monash makes the case that Antarctica’s future and Australia’s future are inexorably linked, and that ‘Antarctica’s importance is far more than its fisheries and penguins’.
5.41Monash argues that Antarctica and the Southern Ocean needs to be considered important by ordinary Australians, who:
… must prepare for environmental extremes, cope with floods and the growing unaffordability of flood insurance, face the consequences of budget decisions about health and the economy forced by the environment’s hand, and deal with the mental burden of growing global geopolitical instability driven in part by environmental change.
5.42Despite the importance of Antarctica to the lives of ordinary Australians, Monash notes that ‘it seems difficult to bring Antarctica into everyday lives’, and that as a result the Antarctic sector rarely attempts to do so. Notwithstanding this difficulty, Monash points to research demonstrating that those who are aware of Antarctica’s importance are profoundly more likely to support Antarctic science.
5.43The Antarctic Science Foundation (ASF) argues that, given the scale of Commonwealth investment in Antarctic science and the ‘extraordinary capacity of theAntarctic to inform policy and societal outcomes’, the Australian Government should invest in a concerted and coordinated communications and public outreach campaign. TheASC envisages that such a campaign could convey the following:
- the importance of Antarctica to the broader public
- the prestige of our world-class achievements and leadership in this unique domain
- the great stories and achievements of the research stakeholders enabled by the Federal Government’s commitment and investment in Antarctica
- opportunities for public outreach, participation, support, employment and partnerships across the wider Australian Antarctic program.
- A good example of public outreach is the ASF’s National Science Week competition, in which students undertake Antarctic themed quizzes and create Antarctic themed artwork, which received 4000 entries from students around the country. On the ASF’s broader public engagement plans, Mr Andrew Kelly, Chief Executive Officer, ASF, told the Committee that:
The plan that we have at the foundation requires an investment of around $3 million to $4 million over about the same amount of time, about three to four years. That would allow us to have a concerted marketing campaign and dedicated stewardship of our supporters and the wider public and to do that really important work of engaging with young students who are, ultimately, not only the scientists of the future but the recipients of what can hardly be called a gift in terms of our climate future. By informing them, we are able to drive policy and we'll be able to drive understanding across the Australian community as to the impact that Antarctica has and how we're going to mitigate for climate disruption.
5.45The ANARE Club submits that the forthcoming 100th anniversaries of Sir Douglas Mawson’s historical British, Australian, New Zealand Antarctic Expeditions in 2029–30 and 2030–31 present an opportunity to promote Australia’s Antarctic historyand continuing scientific excellence.
Committee comment
5.46The Committee recognises the importance of Antarctica to the economic and social development of Australia. A healthy and thriving Antarctic sector is crucial to supporting and delivering the science decision-makers require for the ongoing challenge of anthropogenic climate change.
5.47The Committee notes the role Hobart plays as Australia’s Antarctic Gateway, and the considerable value this brings into the local and national economies. The Committee observed that Hobart maintains a strong affiliation with Antarctica and with the people and institutions supporting Antarctic science.
5.48While the Committee generally supports the development of the Antarctic Facilities Zone in Hobart, it must be noted that each of these organisations has existing facilities within Hobart, and that it is unclear whether the costs associated with consolidation into a single precinct would return logistical efficiencies at the organisational level over time. While there was discussion throughout the inquiry about the possibility of relocating the AAD and AAP to a new city, any such relocationwould appear to be almost entirely without benefit to the program as awhole. TheCommittee considers that any such move would see the AAD and AAPdisconnected from the industry and institutions on which each depends. TheCommittee recommends that the AAD and AAP should remain in Hobart. TheCommittee notes the recent agreement between the Australian Government and Tasmanian Government pertaining to the redevelopment of Macquarie Wharf No.6 and the delivery of a refuelling option for the RSV Nuyina within the Port of Hobart. TheCommittee considers that the delivery of both elements of this agreement should be expedited.
5.49The Committee recognises the significant work of institutions such as the University of Tasmania’s Institute for Marine and Antarctic Science (IMAS) and the contributions such institutions make to Antarctic science and the City of Hobart. The Committee welcomed news from IMAS and the AAD about their co-investment on the Southern Ocean Research Aquarium.
5.50Australia’s national interests in Antarctica are substantial and reflect a more than century long exercise in human endurance in the pursuit of scientific advancement. The Committee believes that Australia’s Antarctic history and operations have a considerable untapped potential to engage students in future environmental and related studies. The Committee recommends that the Australian Government promote Australia’s national interests in Antarctica to the public and share Australia’s Antarctic history more widely.
5.51The Committee recommends that the Australian Government maintain Hobart as the base of operations for the Australian Antarctic Division and Australian Antarctic Program.
5.52The Committee recommends that the Australian Government work withtheTasmanian Government to expedite the redevelopment of MacquarieWharfNo.6.
5.53The Committee recommends that the Australian Government work with the Tasmanian Government to expedite the delivery of a refuelling solution for the RSV Nuyina at the Port of Hobart.
5.54The Committee recommends that the Australian Government develop a national education and awareness campaign to promote Australia’s national interests in Antarctica with a particular focus on students.
Ms Alicia Payne MP
Chair
6 February 2025