Portfolio — 23 March 2026

The Minister for the Environment and Water, Senator Watt, delivered the signature parliamentary event of the day in the Senate: the second reading of the High Seas Biodiversity Bill 2026, the domestic legislation required before Australia can ratify the United Nations Agreement on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas beyond National Jurisdiction [TA-260323-senate-573d70b7987f:s035].

The treaty was adopted internationally in June 2023 after nearly two decades of negotiations — Australia signed in September 2023 as one of the earliest signatories and is now co-chairing the preparatory process for the treaty's first conference of the parties [TA-260323-senate-573d70b7987f:s035].

The bill does three things structurally: it creates a regulatory regime for the collection and use of marine genetic resources from areas beyond national jurisdiction, establishes a framework for Australia to recognise area-based management tools including marine protected areas beyond its own waters, and introduces environmental impact assessment processes for activities affecting those zones [TA-260323-senate-573d70b7987f:s035].

The Minister's second reading speech anchored the case for ratification in both national interest and international obligation. Approximately 60 per cent of the global ocean lies beyond national jurisdiction but only around one per cent is currently protected, and the Minister named plastic pollution, climate change and illegal fishing as threats to Australia's marine estate that originate outside national waters and therefore cannot be addressed through domestic marine park policy alone [TA-260323-senate-573d70b7987f:s035].

Australia's domestic marine parks already protect 52 per cent of its maritime jurisdiction; the bill positions that domestic record as a platform for engagement with the global 30-by-2030 target rather than a substitute for it [TA-260323-senate-573d70b7987f:s035].

The Minister also handled two procedural matters on the floor that sit outside the Environment and Water portfolio. Opposing a motion by Senator Bragg seeking contingent liabilities modelling for the Home Guarantee Scheme, the Minister stated that the government had already produced the requested modelling in documents previously provided, and cited the Prime Minister's public reference to home price impact modelling showing a minor effect of around half a per cent over six years [TA-260323-senate-573d70b7987f:s087].

Separately, representing the Minister for Education, the Minister advised the Senate that the education minister holds no documents on university administration matters and directed the inquiry to the Australian National University rather than the Department of Education [TA-260323-senate-573d70b7987f:s089]. These procedural interventions are routine for a minister managing the chamber but the Home Guarantee Scheme exchange is substantively cross-portfolio — policy staff tracking housing or finance should note the minister's characterisation of what modelling has been disclosed.