TORRES STRAIT PILOTAGE REGIME

C O N F I D E N T I A L CANBERRA 000773 NOFORN DEPARTMENT FOR EAP/ANP, L/OES OSD FOR JESSICA MATTHEWS PACOM FOR AMB. CHRISTY E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/31/2018 TAGS: KTIA, EWWT, PHSA, SENV, PREL, AS SUBJECT: TORRES STRAIT PILOTAGE REGIME REF: A. FRELICK/KAGAN 07/25 E-MAIL ¶B. CANBERRA 679 ¶C. STATE 53801 Classified By: Economic Counselor Edgard Kagan for reasons 1.4 (b/d). ¶1. (C/NF) Econcouns met July 29 with Adam McCarthy, Assistant Secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) International Legal Division to deliver ref A letter and paper. McCarthy, joined by two of his staff, thanked the United States for the response and stressed Australia's desire to try to find a resolution to the problem. Stating that Australia believes that its policy complies with international law, McCarthy noted that Australia is very familiar with the U.S. position. He acknowledged that the majority of the vessels transiting the Torres Strait were on voyages involving an Australian port, but said that the problem for Australia is that many of the remaining vessels (132 in 2007) are tankers. These are exactly the vessels that Australia is most worried could be involved in an accident causing environmental damage to the area. Econcouns stressed that we understand Australian environmental concerns but believe they can be addressed without conflicting with international law. ¶2. (C/NF) Noting that the Singaporean Prime Minister recently raised the Torres Strait pilotage issue with PM Kevin Rudd, McCarthy said that Rudd had told his Singaporean counterpart that Australia could not change its position on the mandatory nature of the Torres Strait pilotage regime. McCarthy said that the Rudd Government understands U.S. and Singaporean concerns about the Torres Strait issue but that it believes it politically impossible to change the mandatory nature of the regime. If there were to be an oil spill after the Rudd Labor Government "weakened" the environmental protections imposed by the Howard Government, McCarthy said the political cost would be immense. ¶3. (C/NF) Saying that Australia wants to address U.S. concerns at the upcoming August 6-7 discussions in Washington, McCarthy said that the Australians will bring specific proposals. He said that while disagreeing with the U.S. view about the legality of the regime, "everything is on the table" with the United States -- "except the mandatory nature of the regime" Econcouns pointed out that this is the exact point which we find unacceptable and urged the Australians to look for ways to address the substantive concerns of protecting the Torres Strait environment that do not require a mandatory regime. McCarthy said that the Australians recognize that the U.S. is unhappy about the Torres Strait issue and will never agree to the current mandatory regime. The Australians welcome the opportunity for detailed discussions and want to try to find a solution, he said, emphasizing that Australia does not want this issue to harm the bilateral relationship. He said Australia is looking for an agreement that the United States will provide "advance warning" before criticizing the Torres Strait regime at multilateral fora. Clune