18. Australia

Abstract

In June, Julia Gillard replaced Kevin Rudd as prime minister of Australia. The leadership shift was attributed to, among other things, inaction on climate change. Yet Australia has still not enacted national climate mitigation legislation since the introduction of a national emissions trading scheme was deferred. Political debate around Prime Minister Gillard’s proposed price on carbon continues (discussed later in this report). As a fitting backdrop to the climate change debate, the year also brought several extreme weather events. After a decade of drought, Australia experienced its third wettest year on record, as El Niño gave way to a strong El Niña weather pattern. Despite this deluge, a lack of water remains a serious pressure on Australian ecosystems and biodiversity. Australia currently is in the process of developing the Murray Darling Basin Plan (MDB Plan) under national water legislation in order to address these serious water allocation issues (<http://thebasinplan.mdba.gov.au>). The Water Act 2007 seeks to give effect to international agreements for biodiversity protection such as the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). The consultation stage of the MDB Plan has highlighted the difficulties of balancing environmental and human demands for water. How the MDB Plan sits with Australia’s new Biodiversity Strategy, which was released in 2010, will be an issue to watch in the coming year. One particular concern will be how Australia is to meet its obligations under the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance, Especially as Waterfowl Habitat (Ramsar Convention) in light of competing demands and limited environmental water allocations. More positively, Australia has continued its active involvement in the international effort to halt whaling in the Southern Ocean Sanctuary, including the commencement of litigation against Japan in the International Court of Justice (ICJ).