PRIME MINISTER
FOR MEDIA 22 MAY 1989
JOINT STATEMENT WITH THE MINISTER FOR
FOREIGN AFFAIRS TRADE, SENATOR THE HON GARETH EVANS QC
AND THE MINISTER FOR ARTS, SPORT, THE ENVIRONMENT,
TOURISM TERRITORIES, SENATOR THE HON GRAHAM RICHARDSON
PROTECTION OF THE ANTARCTIC ENVIRONMENT
The Australian Government is dedicated to the comprehensive
protection of the Antarctic environment and in that context
our strong commitment is that no mining at all including
oil drilling should take place in and around the
continent. The Government will work in international forums and in
bilateral discussions to try to achieve a consensus on that
position.
Although we recognise that the recently concluded Convention
on the Regulation of Antarctic Mineral Resource Activities
( CRAMRA) is very much better than no protective regime of
any kind in relation to these activities, we believe that it
is both desirable and possible to seek stronger protection
for what remains the world's last great wilderness.
Accordingly, we have decided that Australia will not sign
the Minerals Convention, but instead will pursue the urgent
negotiation of a comprehensive environmental protection
convention within the framework of the Antarctic Treaty
system. In that context, Australia will specifically explore the
prospects for the establishment of an " Antarctic Wilderness
Park". We recognise that achievement of sufficient
international agreement, including the necessary consensus
among Antarctic Treaty Consultative Parties, to such a
significant change of approach in the management of
Antarctica, is unlikely to be easy but Australia will very
actively pursue the concept with other countries.
Ministers will take q Nrpy~ opportunity, including during the
visits of Mr Hawke to Europe and the United States, Senator
Evans to India and Europe, and Senator Richardson to Asia
and Europe, in the coming months, to encourage international
support for a comprehensive environmental regime for
Antarctica. Mr Hawke's meeting with French Prime Minister
Rocard in June will, in particular, allow full exploration
of the common ground between Australia and France on the
need to ensure complete protection of the Antarctic
environment.
Pending the successful negotiation of a comprehensive
environmental protection regime, Australia will make major
efforts to strengthen and prolong the present moratorium on
mining in Antarctica. The moratorium, which at present
applies until the " timely entry into force" of the Minerals
Convention, should be given a stronger basis to take account
of growing international concern about the potential damage
which could be caused by mineral activities in Antarctica.
Australia will be working towards the development of a
comprehensive environmental protection convention at the
next Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting ( ATCM) to be held
in Paris in October, but that meeting will be only the first
in what could prove a protracted process of consideration
and negotiation.
The recent preparatory meeting of the ATCM in Paris ( 9-12
May) had agreed to include on the agenda for the October
meeting an item enabling the consideration of overall
measures for the protection of the Antarctic environment.
Australia's proposal for consideration of a comprehensive
environmental protection regime under that item had been
welcomed by some, but resisted by others who remain
committed to the early entry into force of the Minerals
Convention.
While the task will not be an easy one, and the extent of
support is not easy to assess at this stage, Australia will
vigorously pursue its efforts to persuade other Antarctic
Treaty Consultative Parties of the merits of a comprehensive
approach to the protection of the Antarctic environment, and
one that will in practice ensure that no mining takes place.