Chauvel Charles: Antarctica (Environmental Protection: Liability Annex) Amendment Bill — Second Reading Third ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeChauvel Charles: Antarctica (Environmental Protection: Liability Annex) Amendment Bill — Second Reading Third Reading[Sitting date: 04 December 2012. Volume:686;Page:7091. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]CHARLES CHAUVEL (Labour): I rise to take a call on the Antarctica (Environmental Protection: Liability Annex) Amendment Bill. The Antarctic Treaty came into force on 23 June 1961. As Phil Goff explained to the House it was a unique piece of international law at the time and it remains unique in the sense that it suspended claims to sovereignty over a large part of the Earth’s land surface. It committed the Antarctic region to demilitarisation and to peace.There have been numerous subsequent agreements to which New Zealand has been a party that have furthered the aims and the scheme of the original treaty. One of the most significant of those relates to environmental protection. The Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty was signed in October 1991. It entered into force because it got sufficient member State signatories on 14 January 1998. It is one of the most significant international environment agreements that have ever been concluded. It prevents development and it provides for the protection of the Antarctic environment through five specific annexes. They relate to marine protection flora and fauna environmental impact assessments waste management and protected areas. It prohibits all activities relating to mineral resources except for the purpose of scientific investigation.Where this annex fits into that scheme is that it is the sixth annex to that particular agreement and it relates as previous speakers have said to liability arising from environmental emergencies. It was adopted back in 2005 but it is yet to come into force because not enough nations have yet passed the necessary domestic legislation to allow for ratification.Denis O’Rourke I think commented on some of the provisions of the legislation that will be necessary to bring this particular annex into force in respect of New Zealand law. The reason that the international legal regime relating to Antarctica is unique is that when we ratify a treaty in most cases there is an international legal enforcement mechanism but none exists in respect of Antarctica. Antarctica has no permanent population. It has no enforcement system in its treaties and particularly when it comes to environmental protection the States parties have to enact domestic legislation that permits their courts to provide for enforcement because there is no international machinery. That is why this particular protocol is so significant and why I certainlywelcome along with my colleagues the passage finally of this legislation through the House.I am certainly very glad that we are getting on to implementing the liability annex but as Phil Goff pointed out 3 years on the Order Paper is too long. It is a symbol I think of the casual way with which we are treating a very very important environmental matter. As Grant Robertson said other examples are the way in which we have seen our treaty obligations under the Kyoto Protocol and the second commitment period treated by this Government along with domestic legislation on that matter.Just as we have seen the Prime Minister admit that the “100% Pure New Zealand” brand is simply a marketing exercise as far as he is concerned I was interested to hear Shane Ardern try to rebut our concerns about the laxness of the environmental record of this Government. He claimed that there had been 9 years of inaction when we were in office. Well nothing could be further from the truth. Perhaps Mr Ardern could explain or perhaps one of his colleagues who is about to get to their feet could explain why in 2008 New Zealand stood as a result of the record of the Helen Clark - led Labour Government at No. 1 in the Yale environmental rankings independently put together by a leading United States university. In the 4 short years of this Government we have fallen to No. 14 in that ranking system and it looks like we will fall further.That is the independent evidence about this Government’s stewardship of the environment and of conservation matters. Those members should hang their heads in shame. Although I welcome as I said the final passage of this legislation it has taken too long and if this attitude to the environment continues on the part of that Government it will be a deservedly short-lived one.