Australia might be known as a sunburnt country of sweeping plains and ragged mountain ranges, but in fact, it is more water than land. The biggest island on the planet has the biggest area of ocean, stretching from the tropics to Antarctica, from the Indian Ocean to the Pacific, from Macquarie Island to Heard – all of sixteen million square kilometres. Download Oceans Eleven
Oceans Law Reform
Australia needs an Oceans Act because the existing patchwork of marine laws is not adequate to properly protect our oceans and plan for their future use.That's one of the messages from Out of the Blue, a discussion paper on an Act for Australia's oceans, released by ACF and the National Environmental Law Association (NELA).
ACF and NELA have prepared the discussion paper to kickstart public discussion about the future of Australia's oceans laws, planning and management. Although some of the suggestions in Out of the Blue might fall outside the policies of ACF or NELA, all aspects of the paper have been carefully considered and important points for public discussion.
Marine Legislative Review
A team of lawyers has carried out a detailed and comprehensive review of approximately 100 existing Commonwealth and State marine-related environmental laws. The Review shows that the laws, which apply to the conservation, fisheries, petroleum, shipping and tourism sectors, are inadequate in providing for integrated and pro-active marine management, ecologically sustainable development and ecosystem-based management. Nor do they provide for the key goals of Oceans Policy, which are:* integrated, ecosystem-based oceans planning and management founded upon an ecosystem-based approach
* enforceable regional marine plans
* coordination with state jurisdictions
* an overall Oceans Policy framework to which all resource statutes are accountable.
The Marine Legislative Review is underpinning ACF's work on national oceans legislative reform, especially the development of a draft National Oceans Act.
Download the Marine Legislative Review
By Topic
By State
