Senator The Hon Penny Wong, Minister for Foreign Affairs
Senator The Hon Murray Watt, Minister for the Environment and Water
The Albanese Government has introduced legislation this week to allow Australia to ratify, alongside more than 80 other nations, a landmark treaty to protect the marine environment in the high seas.
The high seas, which sit outside individual countries' national waters and exclusive economic zones, cover more than 60 per cent of the global ocean, yet only around one per cent is protected.
As an island continent with a vast maritime jurisdiction, what happens on the high seas has a direct impact on Australia's ocean and the industries that depend on it, such as tourism and fisheries.
The High Seas Biodiversity Treaty provides a comprehensive framework for nations, including Australia, to protect and sustainably manage the world's ocean beyond the limits of national jurisdiction.
It does this by:
- providing a framework for establishing area-based management tools on the high seas, such as marine protected areas
- putting in place an environmental impact assessments process to manage the risk of harm to the marine environment in the high seas
- regulating marine genetic resources collected from the high seas and related digital sequence information
- requiring capacity building and the transfer of marine technology to help developing states.
Australia was one of the first countries to sign the treaty in 2023 and has been leading, with Barbados, the international negotiations to prepare the treaty for implementation. Australia is among a small handful of countries that require legislation prior to ratification. The treaty entered into force generally on 17 January 2026.
The introduction of the legislation ensures Australia can meet its obligations when it becomes a Party to the treaty, as well as providing greater participation in significant global decisions.
Minister for Foreign Affairs Penny Wong said the introduction of the legislation is a major step towards Australia ratifying the treaty.
"The high seas belong to all of us, and they need rules for their protection and sustainable management," Minister Wong said.
"Australia helped shaped this treaty alongside our Pacific partners, and ratification will help turn that diplomacy into real protections for the world's oceans.
"Healthy oceans support food security, jobs and climate resilience in our region and beyond.
"Australia is backing practical global cooperation to safeguard our oceans for future generations."
Minister for Environment and Water Murray Watt said the treaty will help protect the ocean beyond our national boundaries, ensuring a sustainable future for Australia and the Indo-Pacific.
"A healthy ocean is critical to our environment, economy and wellbeing - it is central to our way of life, our jobs and industries, our culture, security and food security," Minister Watt said.
"As one of the first countries to sign the treaty, we are pleased to be taking the next step to safeguard our ocean and those who depend on it. This is something we've been working towards since 2023, including a significant push at the United Nations Ocean Conference last year.
"More than half of Australia's maritime jurisdiction is now protected through our marine parks network. That includes about a quarter of our marine estate - 2.2 million square kilometres - in highly protected areas, and we are committed to lifting that to 30 per cent highly protected by 2030.
"Threats to marine biodiversity such as plastic pollution and illegal fishing don't respect lines on a map and often originate outside our national waters. Ratifying the treaty will allow us to act on these threats and protect our ocean alongside our Pacific neighbours."
