Ms PLIBERSEK (Sydney—Minister for the Environment and Water) (09:01): Last week the Australian government tabled the High Seas Biodiversity Treaty in parliament as part of our global commitment to better protect the world's oceans. Each country has responsibility for its own waters, of course, but until now there has been no agreement on how to protect biodiversity beyond national jurisdictions. The new treaty creates stronger protections for our oceans and provides opportunities for international collaboration, including on marine science, traditional knowledge and the establishment of marine protected areas. Through this treaty, the world is agreeing to cooperate and play by the same rules in some of the world's least discovered, wildest, most mysterious places. Signing the treaty, its tabling in our parliament and the analysis of how it contributes to our national interest brings Australia another step closer to ratifying this landmark treaty to conserve and sustainably manage marine diversity. Australia is leading cooperation to protect and manage our oceans, and this landmark agreement is the culmination of decades of international effort. Australia was a founding signatory of the treaty in September 2023 following its adoption by the United Nations. The treaty is significant for creating a global framework which will be critical in addressing the threats facing the high seas—an area that encompasses 60 per cent of our global oceans and 90 per cent of the volume of those oceans. Currently, only about one per cent of the high seas are protected. Deep sea environments are considered large reservoirs of biodiversity, and it's vital that they be protected. As a maritime nation and a nation of ocean lovers, Australia's prosperity relies on a healthy and sustainably managed ocean. The treaty will help to establish high seas marine protected areas which will complement Australia's own network of domestic marine parks. Together, these protected areas will play an important role in achieving the global target to protect 30 per cent of the world's coastal and marine areas by 2030. This is a commitment I fought hard for, and the world agreed to, through the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. I've since got the agreement of all the states and territories, Labor and Liberal, to commit to this national target. This commitment is a crucial next step in delivering on our promise to protect and restore nature. Healthy and resilient oceans are crucial to our engagement with our Pacific family and our ocean neighbours. Oceans connect us to our region and beyond through shipping and trade routes and the tourism that underpins many Indo-Pacific economies. They provide the foraging and travel paths for migratory species and they regulate the global climate. The ocean produces more than half of the oxygen we breathe. But pollution travels, as do invasive species, and threats to the ocean are transboundary and impact all of us. The Albanese government is working hard to protect the ocean on a number of fronts. I am continuing to fight for a strong, internationally binding plastics treaty so we can realise our dream of seeing a plastic-free Pacific in our lifetimes. Last year, I tripled the size of the Macquarie Island Marine Park, placing an area the size of Germany in the highly protected no-take zone. This was the largest contribution to ocean conservation anywhere in the world last year, and it won't be our last. As a demonstration of our commitment to this treaty, Australia has committed $3 million through the Office of the Pacific Ocean Commissioner to support Pacific countries to sign and ratify this important work. The treaty will be assisted by the parliamentary Joint Standing Committee on Treaties, which will provide recommendations on ratification. The treaty is a combination of more than 20 years of international effort, and our commitment continues. We are delivering on our promise to work to ratify the treaty and bring it into force as soon as possible. I want to acknowledge and thank the many, many committed public servants and environmental groups who have played such a crucial role in getting the treaty to this stage.