An Australian state leader yesterday said she would sharply increase penalties on ships causing oil spills after a vessel ran aground and leaked fuel oil on the Great Barrier Reef more than a week ago.
Queensland Premier Anna Bligh said the maximum penalty for corporations would increase from A$1.75 million (US$1.64 million) to A$10 million, and individuals would face fines of A$500,000 — up from A$350,000.
Salvage crews continued working to remove 950 tonnes of heavy fuel oil from the Shen Neng 1, which slammed into a shoal in the world’s largest coral reef more than a week ago after veering into protected waters in Queensland territory.
The proposed new penalties are the latest sign that authorities are serious about stepping up protection of the fragile reef.
“This increase in penalties will send a message to the thousands of ship crews who pass through Queensland waters that nothing but the greatest attention to safety and care will be tolerated,” Bligh said.
The legislation will be introduced to state parliament this week.
Yesterday, three crewmen from another boat that allegedly entered restricted reef waters on April 4 appeared in Townsville Magistrates Court on charges of entering a prohibited zone of the reef without permission.
The South Korean master and two Vietnamese officers of the Panama-flagged coal boat MV Mimosa were granted bail and ordered to reappear on Friday. They face maximum fines of A$220,000.
Officials have expressed outrage over the Chinese ship’s grounding, with Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd saying that any cargo ships entering restricted waters of the reef will face the full force of Australian law.
“If we have any foreign vessel or any vessel violating the proper protection of the Great Barrier Reef, they should have the book thrown at them,” Rudd told reporters on Sunday.
Incumbent Ecuadoran President Daniel Noboa on Sunday claimed a runaway victory in the nation’s presidential election, after voters endorsed the young leader’s “iron fist” approach to rampant cartel violence. With more than 90 percent of the votes counted, the National Election Council said Noboa had an unassailable 12-point lead over his leftist rival Luisa Gonzalez. Official results showed Noboa with 56 percent of the vote, against Gonzalez’s 44 percent — a far bigger winning margin than expected after a virtual tie in the first round. Speaking to jubilant supporters in his hometown of Olon, the 37-year-old president claimed a “historic victory.” “A huge hug
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A judge in Bangladesh issued an arrest warrant for the British member of parliament and former British economic secretary to the treasury Tulip Siddiq, who is a niece of former Bangladeshi prime minister Sheikh Hasina, who was ousted in August last year in a mass uprising that ended her 15-year rule. The Bangladeshi Anti-Corruption Commission has been investigating allegations against Siddiq that she and her family members, including Hasina, illegally received land in a state-owned township project near Dhaka, the capital. Senior Special Judge of Dhaka Metropolitan Zakir Hossain passed the order on Sunday, after considering charges in three separate cases filed
APPORTIONING BLAME: The US president said that there were ‘millions of people dead because of three people’ — Vladimir Putin, Joe Biden and Volodymyr Zelenskiy US President Donald Trump on Monday resumed his attempts to blame Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy for Russia’s invasion, falsely accusing him of responsibility for “millions” of deaths. Trump — who had a blazing public row in the Oval Office with Zelenskiy six weeks ago — said the Ukranian shared the blame with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who ordered the February 2022 invasion, and then-US president Joe Biden. Trump told reporters that there were “millions of people dead because of three people.” “Let’s say Putin No. 1, but let’s say Biden, who had no idea what the hell he was doing, No. 2, and
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