Mr RICK WILSON (O'Connor) (09:06): The coalition thanks the government and Minister Plibersek for the opportunity to speak on this issue today. On behalf of the shadow environment minister, Senator Duniam, we also thank them for letting us know late yesterday that this issue would be coming before the House this morning. The government and the minister won't be hearing any objections or criticism from us today on the work that has been done and continues to be done on the United Nations agreement on biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction, or as it is often better known, the BBNJ agreement. That's because this matter has been for many years the subject of bipartisan agreement. Indeed, there has been a very long history of Australian activity and involvement that dates back more than two decades. With no disrespect intended to the current minister and government and the various ministers and governments in between, the coalition would like to pay particular tribute today to the Howard government and its first environment minister, Robert Hill. They first saw the need for Australia to become actively involved in this particular process. Accordingly, they pioneered a considerable range of work in our country and beyond in relation to ocean conservation and protection. More specifically, they also genuinely played a leading role in bringing together governments to better care for the conservation of what is known as the high seas that exist beyond conventional international boundaries. Former senator Hill later became a commissioner of the Global Ocean Commission, a role which allowed him to continue to play a key role in efforts to broker international consensus. It was also during those years of the Howard government, in particular, that Australia made its biggest strides in addressing and improving marine biodiversity more generally and laid the most important foundations in helping Australia to increase the size of our protected marine areas. Ultimately, by the time the Morrison government left office in 2022, that figure had reached 43 per cent. It was well in advance of the 30 per cent target that many nations now strive for as part of what is widely known as the 30-by-30 framework. Foremost amongst the reasons for the pursuit of progress under the BBNJ agreement have been increasing pressures and competitive demands in relation to human activity in the world's marine areas. Indeed, the task of appropriately balancing environmental imperatives with economic priorities in marine areas has typically become an ever more serious challenge for governments around the world, and very few of them get it right. Accordingly, there is still much to be achieved by governments in an economic sense, especially for commercial fishers around the world who are arguably now facing the biggest range of pressures in their entire history. However, from an environmental standpoint, the work on the BBNJ agreement and the High Seas Biodiversity Treaty, more specifically, genuinely represent one of the very best blueprints for collaboration on sensible and serious dialogue and solutions. That has been apparent at most stages of the long process towards ratification of the treaty, including the quick embrace by many countries of the opportunity to formally sign it once it became possible in late September 2023. Of course, being in opposition, our side of politics doesn't always have full visibility over everything that the minister is undertaking in this space. However, we commend her for her role in ensuring that Australia acted very speedily once the opportunity to formally sign the treaty became available and for helping our country to operate very effectively in its capacity as a member of the High Ambition Coalition of countries. Likewise, we understand that she is faithfully discharging the many other responsibilities and obligations that are incumbent on her as Australia's federal environment minister in this range of endeavour. In turn, we stand ready to assist her, if there's anything that the coalition can continue to add to our national government's work in this space. On that note, we again thank her and the House for this opportunity this morning and we congratulate everyone who has been involved over a long period of time to bring this very important international agreement to fruition.