Ms JANN McFARLANE (10:59 AM) —I commend the member for Robertson for drawing attention to the petition. I too have tabled petitions in the House for Free the Bears Inc., a group based in the electorate of Stirling. I acknowledge the energy and work of the group to highlight the plight of the bears and I commend their convenor, Mary Hutton.

I rise today to alert the House to the fact that this year commemorates the 10th anniversary of a major oil spill involving the Kirki. On 21 July 1991, the 97,000-tonne Greek tanker Kirki—owned by Kirki Shipping Corporation SA and managed by Mayamar Marine Enterprises of Liberia SA—lost its bow off the coast of Western Australia. During the incident and the subsequent tow of the tanker to a safe haven some 17,280 tonnes of light crude was lost.

To commemorate the anniversary of this disaster, the Maritime Union of Australia is sponsoring a surfing carnival under the theme Safer Ships, Cleaner Seas. The event will be held on the weekend of 14 and 15 July 2001 at the Cottesloe beach for long-board surfers who will compete for the inaugural Kirki Cup. In addition to being a fun weekend of surfing, the event will also be an opportunity for the Maritime Union of Australia to campaign to raise public awareness about the silent invasion of the Australian coast by substandard foreign shipping.

I congratulate the Maritime Union of Australia on their initiative and genuine concern for the safety of our maritime workers and marine environment. Sadly, this is a task that the government seems reluctant to do. Clearly, this government is asleep at the helm. The sad reality is that foreign ships with structural defects serious enough to endanger the lives of crew and threaten Australia's coastal environmentsuch as the Kirkiare regularly granted single voyage permits by this federal government to move cargo around the Australian coast.

I wish the surfers well and I trust that, in addition to being a successful event, the union will be successful in raising awareness for maritime safety issues in the minds of the public. For those across Australia who would like to go, there is a very simple way of getting involved in this event and being a competitor. The event has a number of categories. People can register their intention to compete with Whale Bone Classic, PO Box 123, Cottesloe, Western Australia 6011. This is going to be a wonderful day, a wonderful event. The two surf clubs in my electorate, the Scarborough Surf Lifesaving Club and the Trigg Island Surf Lifesaving Club, are both helping to promote and send teams to this event. As well, Surfing WA, which is the peak body for surf lifesaving clubs in Western Australia, is supporting and publicising the event.

The community loves events such as this because, as well as having an environmental aspect—a green aspect—to them, they also have a fun aspect. This event will also have wonderful prize money. That is not the main reason why people become involved, but it is very expensive, particularly if you travel, to participate in these events. The prize money is a way of compensating people who take the effort not just to participate but to publicise the issue of safe ships, cleaner seas. If we do not work on these issues and are not aware of them, the wonderful coastline of Australia—the marine life, the bird life, the seals, the mammals—will be devastated. It will be devastating if any of these ships carrying large loads of oil sink anywhere off our coastline. We are the largest island continent in the world. We have a very large coastline. Together, we can save it from the type of pollution that ships such as the Kirki have the potential to create. When that ship lost its tonnes of crude oil it did some damage to the environment, but the major potential threat was the heavier oil in some storage tanks. Had that ship gone down, the coastline along the beaches of Perth would have been devastated for many years. It would not have been easy to clean up. I am pleased to publicise this event. I would invite everyone to go back to their electorates and encourage their surfers to book in, get involved and have fun, and also do something for our environment.