Ruling the waves – regulating Australia’s offshore waters

Legal briefing 116 1 December 2020
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Australian law 
Section 11 of the SSL Act vests in the Crown in right of the Commonwealth the 
sovereign rights of Australia over the continental shelf of Australia for the purposes of 
exploring it and exploiting its natural resources.
Section 12 permits the Governor-General to declare by proclamation the limits of 
the whole of or of any part of Australia’s continental shelf. The declaration cannot be 
inconsistent with Art 76 of UNCLOS or any relevant international agreement to which 
Australia is a party.
In 2004 Australia submitted a claim to the UN Commission on the Limits of the 
Continental Shelf for an extended continental shelf. The Commission approved 
the claim in 2008. Subsequently, the outer limits of most of Australia’s continental 
shelf were proclaimed in the Seas and Submerged Lands (Limits of Continental Shelf) 
Proclamation 2012. The effect of that proclamation is to establish a continental shelf 
that is generally 200 nautical miles from the territorial sea baseline of both the 
Australian mainland and the external territories. Where the continental shelf is less 
than 200 nautical miles (due to proximity to another nation) or more than 200 nautical 
miles (because of Australia’s extended continental shelf), the extent of the continental 
shelf is fixed by reference to specified geographical coordinates.
An example of Australian law the application of which extends to the continental shelf 
is the Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage Act 2006 (Cth), which regulates 
exploration for and the recovery of petroleum, exploration for and use of greenhouse 
gas storage formations, and the construction and operation of infrastructure facilities 
for the above activities in offshore areas.
Beyond the limits of national jurisdiction – the high seas 
and the Area