Guy Nathan: Antarctica (Environmental Protection: Liability Annex) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Guy Nathan: Antarctica (Environmental Protection: Liability Annex) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:656;Page:5769] 
Hon NATHAN GUY (Minister of Internal Affairs) 
 on behalf of the  
Minister of Foreign Affairs 
: I move  
That the Antarctica (Environmental Protection: Liability Annex) Amendment Bill be now read a first time. 
 At the appropriate time I intend to move that the bill be referred to the Foreign Affairs Defence and Trade Committee. 
The bill amends the Antarctica (Environmental Protection) Act 1994. It is important legislation as it will implement New Zealand’s obligations under annex VI to the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty. That annex which is commonly known as the liability annex was adopted in 2005 by the 28th Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting which was held in Stockholm Sweden. The annex has not yet entered into force; that will happen once it has been approved by all 28 Antarctic Treaty consultative parties including our very own country New Zealand. The passing of the bill will enable New Zealand to formally approve the liability annex. 
New Zealand is one of 12 original signatories of the Antarctic Treaty which was signed on 1 December 1959 in Washington DC. The Government was very pleased to participate in the opening of the 32nd Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting in Washington in April this year alongside the United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and other Ministers who represented the parties to the treaty. There are now 47 parties to the Antarctic Treaty and the 50th anniversary of the treaty was celebrated at this year’s meeting. 
The Antarctic Treaty has proved itself to be one of the most forward-looking and successful international agreements of all time and it stands as a model of international cooperation. The first article of the treaty declares as a full principle that “Antarctica shall be used for peaceful purposes only.” The treaty goes on to among other things prohibit the establishment of military bases on Antarctica the testing of any weapons there and the dumping of any nuclear waste. It would not be overstating matters to say that at the height of the Cold War the Antarctic Treaty delivered a huge peace dividend particularly for countries like New Zealand that neighbour the Antarctic Treaty area. 
In 1991 the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty was concluded by the treaty partners in Madrid Spain. The protocol provides for a comprehensive regime for the protection of the Antarctic environment as well as dependent and associated ecosystems. Under the protocol Antarctica is designed as a natural reserve that is devoted to peace and science. In the text of article 16 of the protocol the parties made a commitment “to elaborate rules and procedures relating to liability for damage arising from activities taking place in the Antarctic Treaty area.” The liability annex fulfils that longstanding and important obligation. Thus the annex is an important part of the Antarctic environmental protection regime of which New Zealand is a very strong supporter. The annex provides an incentive for preventing damage to the Antarctic environment as well as compensatory regimes for when damage occurs. New Zealand played a leading role in bringing the liability annex negotiations to a successful conclusion in 2005. Accordingly approving the annex and implementing it through this legislation is an opportunity to highlight and promote New Zealand’s support for a strong environmental protection regime for Antarctica. 
The bill implements the provisions of the annex by creating a regime of liability for environmental emergencies that take place in the Antarctic Treaty area. To that end new sections 37C and 37D impose certain obligations for responding to an environmental emergency in the Antarctic. In particular new section 37C requires that “A New Zealand operator whose activities give rise to an environmental emergency or who discover an environmental emergency must immediately notify the Ministry”—of Foreign Affairs and Trade—“of the emergency.” New section 37D requires that “A New Zealand operator whose activities give rise to an environmental emergency must take prompt and effective response action.” If an operator fails to take prompt and effective action in response to an environmental emergency a party to the liability annex may do so. 
The annex and the bill provide that a “response action” means “(a) determining the extent of the emergency and its impact; and (b) taking reasonable measures … to avoid minimise or contain the impact of the environmental emergency.” Failure to take a prompt and effective response action to an environmental emergency constitutes an offence under the bill and is punishable by imprisonment for up to 2 years a fine of up to $200000 or both. Failure to notify the appropriate authorities when an emergency has been caused is also an offence punishable by imprisonment for up to 12 months a fine of up to $100000 or both. In addition where an operator fails to take prompt and effective action in response to an emergency that has been caused by the operator’s activities the bill imposes liability for the costs of the action that should have been taken. The costs will be paid either to an annex party if that party has taken action on the defaulting operator’s behalf or to an environmental protection fund. That fund will be administered by the Antarctic Treaty’s secretariat. 
New section 37G sets out certain situations in which an operator is exempt from liability as provided by the terms of the annex. In addition new section 37H imposes a financial limit on liability—again according to the terms of the annex. An example of where the provisions of the annex might be triggered is an oil spill arising from the grounding or sinking of a tourist vessel in Antarctica. We hope the annex will encourage operators to take greater steps to prevent such incidents from occurring. I add that New Zealand and other treaty parties view the current state of tourist shipping around Antarctica with some concern following four groundings and a sinking over the past two summers. New Zealand will be hosting an Antarctic Treaty meeting of experts to consider these issues in Wellington in December this year. 
This background highlights the fact that the provisions of this bill represent an important development in the Antarctic environmental protection regime. The New Zealand Government strongly supports this legislation. It will pave the way for the approval of the liability annex and it will therefore provide further important protection for the unique Antarctic environment. I commend this bill to the House.