18
June 2009 - Australian Minister for the
Environment, Peter Garrett, Australian Minister
for Foreign Affairs, Stephen Smith, and
New Zealand Minister for Foreign Affairs,
Murray McCully, said the announcement strengthens
their close relationship and commitment
to non-lethal scientific research, ahead
of the next meeting of the International
Whaling Commission in Madeira next week.
The Antarctic Whale
Expedition will involve six weeks of research
in early 2010 aboard the New Zealand vessel
R/V Tangaroa in the Antarctic waters to
the south of Australia and New Zealand.
"This expedition
supports our joint position that non-lethal
whale research can provide all the information
needed to understand and conserve whales
and so called 'scientific whaling' is unnecessary,"
Australian Minister for the Environment,
Peter Garrett said
"New Zealand strongly
supports rigorous science to underpin whale
management, and the RV Tangaroa's voyage
will provide an idea opportunity to obtain
high-quality data in the Southern Ocean,"
New Zealand Minister for Foreign Affairs,
Murray McCully said.
The research jointly
undertaken by Australia and New Zealand
scientists will improve the understanding
of the population structure, abundance,
trends, distribution, and ecological role
of whales in the Southern Ocean.
The expedition will
use state of the art non-lethal research
techniques such as biopsy sampling, satellite
tracking and acoustic and hydrographic surveys.
"The Southern Ocean
Research Partnership is the largest international,
multidisciplinary research collaboration
with a focus on improving the conservation
of whales," Mr Garrett said.
"This expedition
and the ongoing research program will demonstrate
to the world that we do not need to kill
whales to study and understand them."
The Ministers said that
Australia and New Zealand will be attending
the IWC with the aim of reforming the management
of science within the Commission, including
an end to so-called 'scientific whaling'
and the development of internationally agreed,
cooperative conservation management plans
for whales.
"By working together,
both our nations can strengthen the international
commitment to whale conservation,"
Mr Smith said.
+ More
Water market and termination
fee rules signed
16 June 2009 - Minister
for Climate Change and Water, Senator Penny
Wong, today announced that she has signed
the water market (transformation) rules
and termination fee rules applicable in
the Murray-Darling Basin.
"Our overarching
challenge is to put the future of the Murray
Darling Basin onto a sustainable footing,
and that requires a combination of investments
in irrigation efficiency and water purchase,
and a commitment to Basin and water market
reform," Senator Wong said.
"By ensuring that
the water market is fairer and more efficient
for all, we will help to secure a vibrant
and profitable future for irrigated agriculture."
Both sets of rules contain
transitional periods to allow the irrigation
industry time to adjust their existing arrangements
to comply with the rules.
"I have decided
to extend this transition period to allow
stakeholders further time to adjust to these
important changes. The water market rules
will now commence on 1 January 2010 and
the termination fee rules will start on
1 September 2009," Senator Wong said.
The new rules:
Will enable individual
farmers to apply to transform water held
as a share of a group licence into an individual
statutory entitlement that can be freely
traded; and
Establish a consistent basis for setting
termination fees, to provide for the ongoing
costs of maintaining irrigation networks,
when an irrigator terminates access to the
network.
Irrigation infrastructure operators can
seek approval from the Australian Competition
and Consumer Commission (ACCC) to charge
termination fees in excess of the 'ten times
multiple', (provided for in the termination
fee rules), from now.
The ACCC will shortly
release guidance material to assist operators
and irrigators in applying the new rules.
Further information
about the water market rules and termination
fee rules can be found at www.environment.gov.au/water.
A copy of the
rules and associated explanatory statements
will be available on the Federal Register
of Legislative Instruments website at www.frli.gov.au
upon registration.
