CHAPTER 1
1.1 On 26 June 1995, the Senate referred the management of water and
biological nutrients in Australia, with particular emphasis on their
loss from the terrestrial environment and the problems caused in the
marine and coastal environment, to the Committee for inquiry and report
by the last sitting day of the 1996 Winter sittings. (The full terms
of reference are set out at the beginning of this report.) Following
the March 1996 elections, on 23 May 1996 the Senate adopted the report
of the Committee recommending that the Committee undertake the inquiry
after it had completed the inquiry into the Telstra (Dilution of Public
Ownership) Bill 1996.
1.2 The Committee advertised the inquiry in The Weekend Australian
on 15 July 1995, calling for written submissions to be lodged by 29
September 1995. The Committee wrote to Commonwealth Government Ministers
whose departments or agencies were involved or had an interest in marine
pollution issues, and to State Premiers and Territory Chief Ministers,
seeking written submissions. The Committee also wrote to a number of
individuals and organisations. The Committee received 118 submissions,
which are listed in Appendix 1. Copies of non-confidential submissions
were made available on request.
1.3 Public hearings were held in Cairns and Townsville in November
1995, and in Canberra, Glenelg, Melbourne, Hobart, Ballina and Townsville
in 1997. The Committee also inspected sewage treatment facilities in
Sydney in October 1995. A list of witnesses who gave evidence to the
Committee, and the dates on which they were heard, is set out in Appendix
2.
1.4 This report refers ubiquitously to the coastal zone. Various authorities
concur that approximately eighty per cent of pollution in the marine environment
derives from land based sources.[1]
It is the activities of the human population in the coastal zone that
are largely responsible for marine pollution. It is therefore necessary
to consider in some detail those activities, and in order to do so a definition
of the term coastal zone is required.
1.5 The Resource Assessment Commission's 1993 Coastal Zone Inquiry adopted
two definitions to identify the landward extent of the coastal zone: existing
local government administrative areas abutting the coast and natural drainage
basins abutting the coast.[2]
1.6 Under either definition the coastal zone occupies approximately 1.3
million square kilometres, about 17 per cent of the land area of Australia.
Based on the local government definition the coastal zone supports approximately
86 per cent of Australia's population.[3]
1.7 Article 1(4) of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the
Sea defines 'pollution of the marine environment' as:
the introduction by man, directly or indirectly, of substances or
energy into the marine environment, including estuaries, which results
or is likely to result in such deleterious effects as harm to living
resources and marine life, hazards to human health, hindrance to marine
activities, including fishing and other legitimate uses of the sea,
impairment of quality for use of sea water and reduction of amenities.
1.8 According to the Agenda 21 Action Plan, which followed the United
Nations Conference on Environment and Development, held in Rio de Janeiro
in 1992, land based emissions are derived from human settlements, land
use, coastal infrastructure, agriculture, forestry, urban development,
tourism and industry. Contaminants of concern are generally listed, not
in order of priority, as sewage, nutrients, synthetic organic compounds,
sediments, litter and plastics, metals, radionuclides, oil/hydrocarbons
and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.[4]
1.9 The Committee wishes to thank all those who contributed to the
inquiry by preparing written submissions, by giving oral evidence or
by assisting with the arrangements for public hearings and inspections.
The Committee is grateful for the interest shown and the advice provided.
Footnotes:
[1] Department of the Environment,
Sport and Territories, Our Sea, Our Future: Major Findings of the State
of the Marine Environment Report for Australia, Canberra, 1995, p.
55.
[2] Resource Assessment Commission,
Coastal Zone Inquiry, Final Report, Canberra, November 1993, p.
7.
[3] Resource Assessment Commission,
Coastal Zone Inquiry, Final Report, p. 8.
[4] Cited in Caroline Williams,
'The Global Program of Action for the Protection of the Marine Environment
from Land-Based Activities: Ramifications for Australian Coastal Management',
in Maritime Studies 87, March-April 1996, p. 1.