Williamson Maurice: Marine Legislation Bill — First Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Williamson Maurice: Marine Legislation Bill — First Reading 
[Sitting date: 11 September 2012. Volume:683;Page:5080. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Hon MAURICE WILLIAMSON (Minister for Building and Construction) 
 on behalf of the Minister of Transport: I move  
That the Marine Legislation Bill be now read a first time. 
 I nominate the Transport and Industrial Relations Committee to consider the bill. 
The purpose of this bill is to promote maritime safety and marine environment protection. The bill amends the Maritime Transport Act 1994—an Act that I am very familiar with—to enable New Zealand to accede to three international maritime conventions to improve the clarity completeness and effectiveness or enforceability of certain provisions in the Act and to transfer the local regulation of navigation safety from the Local Government Act 1974 to the Maritime Transport Act 1994. 
The bill also transfers the regulation of waste dumping and discharges from ships and offshore installations involved in seabed activities in the exclusive economic zone and the continental shelf from Maritime New Zealand to the Environmental Protection Authority. This change is achieved through amendments to the Exclusive Economic Zone and Continental Shelf (Environment Effects) Act 2012. 
The bill will amend the Maritime Transport Act 1994. The Act provides a regulatory framework for the maritime transport sector. It seeks to promote safety in maritime transport protect the marine environment and implement New Zealand’s obligations under international maritime conventions. In June 2008 the Cabinet economic development committee agreed to amend the Act and those changes are reflected in the bill. Cabinet also agreed to transfer the provisions of the Local Government Act 1974 relating to navigation to the Maritime Transport Act 1994 with consequential changes as required. Cabinet decided in October 2011 to transfer certain environmental protection functions from Maritime New Zealand to the Environmental Protection Authority. 
The main issues and the benefits of this are first of all the international maritime conventions. The bill enables New Zealand to accede to three international conventions to protect New Zealand’s maritime interests. The grounding of the  
Rena  
on Astrolabe Reef has highlighted the need to update New Zealand’s liability limitation regime for maritime claims. The bill will enable New Zealand to accede to the 1996 protocol to amend the international Convention on Limitation of Liability for Maritime Claims 1976. This will more than double the current liability limit. The limit will increase by a further 51 percent in 2015 when new limits under the protocol will come into force. 
The bill also enables New Zealand to ratify the International Convention on Civil Liability for Bunker Oil Pollution Damage 2001 which makes shipowners strictly liable for bunker oil spills. Claims for pollution damage from ships’ bunker oil will be treated as a separate category of claim. The increased liability limit established by the 1996 protocol will apply to such claims. This arrangement provides a more certain remedy for parties facing economic loss or clean-up costs because of bunker oil spills. 
Thirdly the bill enables New Zealand to accede to the Protocol Relating to Intervention on the High Seas in Cases of Pollution by Substances other than Oil 1973. This will help protect New Zealand’s environment in the event of a shipping accident involving hazardous or noxious substances. The bill also implements amendments to the International Convention on Standards of Training Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers 1978 that establish an internationally applicable alcohol limit for merchant seafarers. 
The bill establishes clear functions duties and powers to complement the voluntary guidelines of the New Zealand Port and Harbour Marine Safety Code 2004 and maintains the division of central and local government responsibilities. These measures provide a stronger regime for the management of port and harbour and navigation safety. 
 The bill also contains miscellaneous amendments to improve enforcement modernise penalty levels and clarify the application of the Maritime Transport Act. On recommendation of the Regulations Review Committee the bill clarifies that the marine safety charge is a levy not a user charge and adds a requirement for consultation whenever regulations are being made to set or amend the levy. The bill also amends rule-making provisions in line with amendments already made to the rule-making provisions of the Civil Aviation Act 1990 and the Land Transport Act 1998. 
Transfers of discharge and dumping functions from Maritime New Zealand to the Environmental Protection Authority are covered. The bill transfers regulation of waste dumping except emergency dumping and certain discharges within the exclusive economic zone and over the continental shelf from Maritime New Zealand to the Environmental Protection Authority. This will enable discharge and dumping applications to be considered entirely within the new exclusive economic zone regime which has more comprehensive environment assessments and consultation requirements than the Maritime Transport Act. 
In closing the proposed changes will promote maritime safety and marine environmental protection through the enhancement of existing measures in the Maritime Transport Act of 1994—may I say a superb Act in itself. I commend the bill to the House.