ENVIRONMENTAL LAW REGIMES—PETROLEUM OPERATIONS IN AUSTRALIA'S OFFSHORE AREAS

Abstract

Increasing petroleum activity in Australia's off­shore areas is heightening industry, government and community awareness of the potential impact of these operations on marine ecosystems and coastal environments.

The Offshore Constitutional Settlement of the late 1970s has resolved the issue of allocation of governmental rights and powers over the resources of the sea and the seabed. However, the application of environmental laws to those areas remains largely untested. A complex web of legislation—State, Ter­ritory and Commonwealth—may apply to proposed and on-going petroleum activities.

The Commonwealth Government has substantial power to intervene to protect environmentally sen­sitive areas whether they are within areas of the sea over which that government or the states or the Northern Territory have primary jurisdiction. De­spite the recent Intergovernmental Agreement on the Environment, substantial ultimate power re­sides with the Commonwealth to protect the envi­ronment, particularly through the use of the exter­nal affairs power. The politically fluid nature of environmental management in offshore areas adds an important dimension to the commercial risk assessment process for the petroleum industry.