Frank Stewart Dethridge Memorial Address 2016: 'Of Reefs and Men' - When the Best Laid Plans Go Awry, Have We an Acceptable Way Forward?

Abstract

The theme of this year’s conference, Resources vs the Reef, is not only topical but of crucial importance to
Australia, both from an environmental and economic perspective. I have therefore chosen to address a question that I hope does justice to the conference theme, and one which I hope will also resonate with our New Zealand colleagues whose reefs and coastlines are, as we have seen in recent years, at equal risk of catastrophic damage. Whilst considering the content of this address, I pondered the great body of work that has been done in the attempt to reduce the risks to our reefs that are presented by the shipping industry; work by government agencies both
nationally and internationally, by the industry itself and by academics in a wide variety of disciplines, including
marine engineering and naval architecture, materials engineering, psychology, economics, environmental science and, yes, even law. But as we know humans and human systems are fallible. So how do we reckon for the occasion when the best laid plans fail to prevent an incident and limitation amounts are inadequate to compensate for the resulting damage? I need to make clear at this point that the views that follow are entirely my own and are not endorsed by, and should not be attributed to, any organisation with which I may be associated.

This copy of the address was originally published in Volume 31 of the ANZMLJ (2017).