Adams Amy: Exclusive Economic Zone and Continental Shelf (Environmental Effects) Bill — In Committee 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Adams Amy: Exclusive Economic Zone and Continental Shelf (Environmental Effects) Bill — In Committee 
[Sitting date: 21 August 2012. Volume:683;Page:4615. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Hon AMY ADAMS (Minister for the Environment) 
: 
 I did want to take a brief call to start our discussion on Part 3 and there are really two points I want to comment on. The first is to commend the work of the Local Government and Environment Committee of course across the consideration of the whole bill which I have been remiss in not doing to date in the Committee stage. In particular I commend the committee on reviewing the changes that were made to this part of the bill. I thought the committee made some excellent suggestions which really have enhanced the bill particularly in the way we have made it clear now through the select committee’s recommended amendments that any person can apply for an enforcement order to a consent and the consent conditions issued by the Environmental Protection Authority. I certainly think that that will give considerable comfort to some parties who were concerned about that part of the bill initially. 
The other change to this part of the bill that I want to comment on is one of the more significant changes that I am recommending in the Supplementary Order Paper in my name Supplementary Order Paper 100 and that is to clause 125(1)(b). The bill as reported back from the select committee contains a maximum penalty of $600000 for a company for breaching the Act and through the Supplementary Order Paper in my name we are recommending that that limit be increased to $10 million. This is a sizable increase. It is more than simply moving it up a bit. It really represents a significant change and reflects I think quite rightly the severity of the potential actions in this space and the seriousness with which we as a Government and I would hope we as a Parliament would reflect the views we would take of anyone breaching this Act. 
I think that it is a way in which this House can send a message to judicial bodies coming after us who are considering the appropriate manner in which to deal with any company that chooses to come here and has scant regard for the laws this House puts in place. I think it is important that we recognise not only the type of activity that we will be dealing with in this space and in the exclusive economic zone we are fortunate in that there is a much more narrowly defined set of potential activities that we are considering and also the likely players that work in that space. It is certainly my view that it is important to set penalties that are of a size that companies of that magnitude will take notice of. 
It is certainly my intention that with a maximum penalty of $10 million we will be sending a very clear message to those companies that we expect full compliance with the legislation. We expect full compliance with the regulations. And if they choose not to act in full compliance they can expect to be dealt with harshly. So I think this is an important change and one I wanted to discuss my rationale for in this Chamber and I would hope that we get support for this part of the bill.