Senator SANDY MACDONALD (Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Defence) (1:14 PM) —I thank Senator O’Brien for his contribution to the debate on the Maritime Legislation Amendment (Prevention of Pollution from Ships) Bill 2006. I will just make a few comments to sum up. Firstly, the legislation is necessary to align Australia’s requirements with our international obligations as a member state of the International Maritime Organisation, the IMO, and a party to the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships 1973/78 known, as Senator O’Brien said, as MARPOL. The bill covers two elements of MARPOL: annex I, which covers the prevention of pollution by oil, and annex II, which covers the prevention of pollution by noxious liquid substances. The revised text of annex I and annex II was adopted by the International Maritime Organisation in October 2004 and will enter into force internationally on 1 January 2007.

The internationally agreed amendments to annex I and annex II, as I said, will come into effect on 1 January 2007. The revised annexes will allow Australia to enforce more stringent technical requirements to protect the marine environment and human health from oil and chemical pollution, thus demonstrating the government’s continuing efforts to enhance Australia’s maritime pollution prevention regime. I might add that industry supports these amendments. The enactment of the proposed act will provide Australia with consistent national standards that could be applied to all Australian ships as well as foreign ships operating in Australian waters. The enactment will also ensure the protection of Australia’s maritime environment and human health through the application of current and enhanced environmental standards. I commend the bill to the Senate.

Question agreed to.

Bill read a second time.