Abstract
Australia’s offshore jurisdiction is comprised of a matrix of Commonwealth, State and Northern Territory areas and the laws in place offshore reflect this. They are jumbled, overlap geographically and by activity, and are generally complex and inefficient. This is the first of two related articles which set out the history and development of the Australian offshore jurisdiction and these laws and takes the reader chronologically from the start of their being exercised to a description of the current structure. Part 1 begins with regulation of the offshore petroleum industry by the Offshore Petroleum Agreement 1967, which was then modified and expanded after major constitutional tensions by the Offshore Constitutional Settlement 1979. It then develops the story of the legislation and the High Court cases up to the current situation. Part 2, which is published concurrently, is less detailed and sets out the international offshore zones that underpin the Australian offshore jurisdiction. It then sets out the offshore areas as described in the terminology used in the legislation and describes the wide-ranging ambit of the various areas and activities before drawing some conclusions. The articles aim to mention all of the relevant international conventions, Commonwealth-State agreements, High Court cases and legislation to give the reader an educated overview of their history and development.