Interview with Sally Sara, ABC RN Breakfast

SALLY SARA, HOST:  The newly appointed Minister for Environment and Water, Murray Watt, has used his moment on the global stage at the United Nations Ocean Conference in France to outline Australia's plans for bolstered ocean protections. It includes declaring 30 per cent of Australian waters to be highly protected by 2030 and ratifying the nation's commitment to the High Seas Biodiversity Treaty, which is designed to protect marine life in international waters where no single country has jurisdiction. Senator Watt joined me earlier from Nice.

One of the issues that you've raised is the aim for 30 per cent of Australia's ocean to be declared highly protected by 2030. This requires all extractive activities to be banned. How will you achieve this by the end of the decade?

MURRAY WATT, MINISTER FOR THE ENVIRONMENT AND WATER: Yeah, that's right, Sally. That's something that our Government has been working towards for a while. Since we were elected in 2022, we've expanded the overall amount of protected area in our ocean from 37 per cent to over 50 per cent of our ocean area, and that means that Australia now protects more ocean area than any other country in the world. But as part of that, what we're also seeking to do is to increase the amount of ocean space that is designated as highly protected, and what that means is that they're protected from extracted industries, like fishing or mining, things like that, and that's really important for our marine life. The way I sort of think about it is that, as basically the scientific research tells us, that as long as we preserve 30 per cent of our ocean space and protect it from those sorts of extractive industries, that allows our ocean to replenish itself, it allows fish stocks to regrow, marine stocks to regrow, coral to regrow, things like that as well, whereas if you don't put those sorts of protections in place it runs the risk that all of that biodiversity can go forever.

So we think it is possible, and we think it's very clear that we can get to 30 per cent of our highly protected areas by 2030. We'll obviously be working with some of the industries affected, like the fishing industry and renewable energy and other industries as well. But having made that progress already just in three years, we think it is possible, and in a sense it's actually helping guarantee the long‑term security of our commercial fishing industry as well by making sure that there are fish remaining for generations to come, because when you protect those areas from fishing at all or other activities what you see is that fish then spill over beyond the protected areas and that allows more fish to be caught outside those highly protected areas as well. So we think it's a good move for the environment and our industries, and again, it's an area where Australia is really leading the world.

SARA: Will support be given to the fishing and mining and other industries?

WATT: Look, we'll certainly consider that as we go forward, and there have been occasions, of course, where both State and Federal Governments have funded buy-backs of fishing licences and things like that, but what we'll need to do is sit down with both environmental groups and the fishing industry to work out which would be the most appropriate and important areas for us to designate as highly protected. If there is a need for that sort of funding, then we'd of course consider that. But I have to say, even going back to my time as the Agriculture and Fisheries Ministry, we worked very constructively with the fishing industry, and as I say, I think many of them understand that these sorts of protections are actually really good guarantees for their long‑term survival as an industry as well, leaving aside the environmental protection that we all benefit from.

SARA: A major threat to the oceans, of course, is global heating. Should Australia be setting more ambitious targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions?

WATT: Oh, there's no doubt, and you're aware that Chris Bowen is currently leading the work for Australia and our Government when it comes to the 2035 targets, and there's no doubt that we will set more ambitious targets still than the ones we have in place at the moment. I have to say, this is something I've discussed with ministers while I've been here, from other countries, and there's actually very strong recognition that we've made substantial progress when it comes to our emissions reductions in Australia over the last three years.

People can see that we're moving rapidly towards a renewable energy based economy, of course backed up by other sources as well, but people do recognise we've come a long way, but yeah, we will have to make more ambitious targets, not just to meet international agreements, but to seize the sort of economic opportunities that are available in this transition as well. You know, we want to make sure that Australians have those jobs that come from clean and cheaper energy in the future. So it's in our economic interest to keep going down this journey as well as the environmental benefits, of course, as well.

SARA: You're listening to Radio National Breakfast, and my guest is the Federal Minister for Environment and Water, Murray Watt. Returning to issues back home, Minister, the Government's provisional approval for the extension for the North West Shelf gas project, has the Government received a response from Woodside yet, and when will we see a final decision?

WATT: We haven't received a final response from Woodside at this point. As you may recall, when I handed down my proposed decision a couple of weeks ago, there was a 10-day comment period for Woodside to respond to. That 10-day period expires this Friday, but I should say it's not uncommon for proponents in this situation to take a bit longer in coming back on those comments. So I can't predict exactly when it will be that Woodside will provide those comments. Once I receive them, I'll consider them and make a decision on whether or not to approve the project, and if so, with what conditions, and I'll do that as quickly as I can.

I would say that there have been constructive discussions underway between Woodside and my department since I handed down that proposed decision, but what we want to do is make sure that we can secure jobs and secure industry, but also not at the expense of our environment. It's been a little bit difficult to go into too much detail about this decision, because we are in that provisional decision stage, but as you would have seen when I announced my proposed decision, I did say that the approval was subject to strict conditions, especially in relation to air emission levels, because we don't want to see that 60,000-year-old Indigenous rock art destroyed, and my view is that we can make sure that that rock art is preserved for all time, while also applying those conditions that the approval was subject to.

SARA: On a separate issue, we've had news overnight that the US is launching a review of the AUKUS deal. Is that concerning from an Australian perspective?

WATT: Yeah, look, Sally, this has obviously just broken overnight, and being on the other side of the world, I haven't had an opportunity to speak to my colleagues about this. But, look, we remain very confident that the US as a whole, as well as, of course, the UK are supportive of AUKUS. We'll obviously, you know, pay very close attention to this review that's just been announced overnight. But you will have seen that we've undertaken a lot of work over a long period of time with Congress members on both sides of the aisle in the US and there is very strong support for this deal, because the US can see that it's in their interests as well as the UK's and Australia. So, you know, once we get a little bit more detail about what this review involves, I'm sure some of the Ministers will have something to say about that. But we're very confident that this remains in the interests of all the parties to the deal already.

SARA: Minister, thank you for your time on Breakfast this morning.

WATT: Thanks, Sally.

SARA: That's Murray Watt there, the Federal Minister for the Environment and Water, speaking from the UN Oceans Conference in Nice in France.