<&>Wellington Corpus of Spoken New Zealand English Version One <&>Copyright 1998 School of Linguistics & Applied Language Studies <&>Victoria University of Wellington <&>18:11 we call on er government orders of the day government order number one marine pollution amendment bill number two third reading mister speaker yes er er word what's the situation word yes mister the honourable mister dunne mister speaker i move that the marine pollution amendment bill number two be read the third time sir this bill is a very important measure in terms of new zealand's ability to honour it's international environmental obligations the principal feature of the bill is that its passage will enable new zealand to ratify the convention for the protection of the natural resources and <&>19:00 environment of the south pacific commonly known as the sprep convention and i have to report to the house sir that during the committee stage of the bill there was some attention paid to the provisions of that convention and i would like to place those provisions on the record of the house this afternoon mister speaker the sprep convention was adopted and signed by new zealand in november of nineteen eighty six it has since been ratified by some seven pacific island states and it will come into force following the tenth ratification <,> the passage of this bill will enable the legislation to be ratified by new zealand and ratification of the convention by new zealand will be a further demonstration of our support for the protection of the marine environment of <&>20:00 the south pacific region mister speaker the convention is a comprehensive legal framework to implement what is known as the action plan for managing the natural resources and environment of the south pacific region which was adopted in rarotonga in nineteen eighty two associated with the convention are a protocol for the prevention of pollution of the south pacific region by dumping and a protocol concerning cooperation in combatting pollution emergencies in the south pacific region i might add at this point sir that during the discussion in the committee the opposition in particular <,> paid some attention to the ability <,> of new zealand to be able to deal with pollution emergencies and raised a number of questions relating to the definitions of the items that were considered to be hazardous substances and we had a number of interesting discussions on the particular clauses of the bill in general relating to the provisions of <&>21:00 something known as the marine pollution dumping and incinerations regulations nineteen eighty two <,> from which a number of the definitions that apply in this bill are derived but sir if i may return to the provisions of the convention which is the major matter covered by the bill that we debate this afternoon under the provisions of the convention which new zealand wants to ratify on the passage of the bill we will become committed to the prevention reduction and control of pollution at sea in the south pacific region <,> including two hundred mile zones and in accordance with existing internationally recognised rules and standards pollution from vessels from land from air and caused by dumping or the storage of wastes is also covered by the convention and most importantly sir the convention prohibits the dumping of all levels of <&>22:00 radioactive waste at sea in the region i should report to the house that the united states france and the united kingdom have <.>s already signed the convention and it is therefore the first time that those nuclear powers have adopted a treaty which prohibits nuclear waste dumping completely and without recourse to scientific evidence i think sir that those moves sir offer the firmest prospect yet that the major longterm aspirations of the south pacific forum and its members namely that the south pacific will never be used as a sight for sea disposal of radioactive wastes can be achieved mister speaker the convention also requires the parties to it to prevent pollution in the region caused by nuclear testing <,> and in this context it is noteworthy that france has signed but not yet ratified the convention and i think that that is further proof that the convention can provide a legal <&>23:00 frame within which new zealand is able to raise any concerns on environmental pollution which might result from nuclear testing by the french or any other nation in the pacific region <&>23:09