Ashmore and Cartier Islands

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Satellite image of Ashmore reef on 26 August 2021.

The Territory of Ashmore and Cartier Islands<ref name="Agency2010">Template:Cite CIA World Factbook</ref> is an uninhabited Australian external territory<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> consisting of four low-lying tropical islands in two separate reefs (Ashmore and Cartier), as well as the Template:Convert territorial sea generated by the islands.<ref name=DIRD/> The territory is located in the Indian Ocean situated on the edge of the continental shelf, about Template:Convert off the northwest coast of Australia and Template:Convert south of the Indonesian island of Rote.<ref name=DIRD>Template:Cite web</ref>

Ashmore Reef is called Pulau Pasir by Indonesians and Nusa Solokaek in the Rotenese language. Both names have the meaning "sand island".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Ashmore Reef (not not Cartier Reef) lies on the Indonesian side of the median line between the Australian and Indonesian maritime territories.

Geography

File:AshmoreandCartierIslands.png

A map of Ashmore and Cartier Islands

The territory comprises Ashmore Reef, which includes West, Middle and East Islands, in addition to two lagoons, as well as Cartier Reef, which includes Cartier Island. Ashmore Reef covers approximately Template:Convert and Cartier Reef Template:Convert, both measurements extending to the limits of the reefs.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

West, Middle and East Islands have a combined land area variously reported as Template:Convert,<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Template:Convert<ref name="Europa2004"/> and Template:Convert.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Cartier Island has a reported land area of Template:Convert.<ref name="Europa2004">Template:Cite book</ref>

History

According to Australian literature,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Cartier Island was visited by Captain Nash in 1800, and named after his ship Cartier. Ashmore Island was seen by Captain Samuel Ashmore in 1811 from his ship Hibernia and named after him. Ashmore Island was annexed by the United Kingdom in 1878, as was Cartier Island in 1909.<ref name="lus19">Template:Cite web</ref> In December 1905, Template:HMS formally took possession of the Ashmore Islands on behalf of the United Kingdom. The ship's commander Captain Ernest Gaunt went ashore accompanied by five officers and around 200 seamen, erecting the Union Jack on a flagpole and singing "God Save the King", while Cambrian returned a 21-gun salute.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

After their annexation, the British Government occasionally granted licences on the islands for fishing or guano extraction.<ref name=sun>Template:Cite news</ref> In the 1920s, the islands were used as a base for poachers targeting the Western Australian pearling industry. The lack of effective policing led to Australian lobbying for a transfer of control.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

A British order-in-council dated 23 July 1931 stated that Ashmore and Cartier Islands would be placed under the authority of the Commonwealth of Australia, when Australia passes legislation to accept them, and formal administration would begin two years later.<ref>Template:Cite CIA World Factbook</ref> The Commonwealth's resulting Ashmore and Cartier Islands Acceptance Act 1933 came into operation on 10 May 1934, when the islands formally became a part of Australia. The act authorised the Governor of Western Australia to make ordinances for the territory. In July 1938 the territory was annexed to the Northern Territory, then also administered by the Commonwealth, whose laws, ordinances and regulations applied to the Northern Territory. When self-government was granted to the Northern Territory on 1 July 1978, administration of Ashmore and Cartier Islands was retained by the Commonwealth.<ref name=DIRD/><ref name=YrBk1981>Template:Cite book</ref>

In 1947, interior minister Herbert Johnson became the first Australian government minister to visit the territory. The Age reported that Johnson had been unable to land due to rough seas and regarded the islands as "almost valueless".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In 1983, the territory was declared a nature reserve under the National Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act 1975,<ref name=DIRD/> now replaced by the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999.<ref>Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999</ref> Cartier Island, which was a former bombing range, became a marine reserve in 2000.

After the islands became a first point of contact with the Australian migration zone, in September 2001, the Australian Government excised the Ashmore and Cartier Islands from the Australian migration zone.<ref name=DIRD/>

Indonesian heritage and memorandum

Ashmore has been regularly visited and fished by Indonesian fishermen since the early eighteenth century. A 1974 Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between Australia and Indonesia sets out arrangements by which traditional fishers can access resources in Australia's territorial sea in the region. This allows traditional Indonesian fishermen to access parts of Ashmore for shelter, freshwater and to visit grave sites. The area, known as the MOU Box, contains the Ashmore and Cartier Islands Territory.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Governance

Today, the territory is administered from Canberra by the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts, which is also responsible for the administration of the territories of Christmas Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, the Coral Sea Islands, Jervis Bay Territory and Norfolk Island.<ref name="AussieAG">Template:Cite web</ref>

The Attorney-General's Department had been responsible for the administration of Australian territories until the 2010 federal election. In that year the responsibility for Australian territories was transferred to the then Department of Regional Australia, Local Government, Arts and Sport,<ref name=DIRD/> and from 18 September 2013 the Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development has administered Australian territories.

Defence of Ashmore and Cartier Islands is the responsibility of Australia, with periodic visits by the Royal Australian Navy, Royal Australian Air Force and the Australia Border Force.

Nearby Hibernia Reef, Template:Convert northeast of Ashmore Reef, is not part of the Territory, but belongs to Western Australia.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> It has no permanently dry land area, although large parts of the reef become exposed during low tide.

Proposed Northern Territory annexation

The Northern Territory government has claimed on multiple occasions (1989, 1996) that the Ashmore and Cartier Islands should be returned to their jurisdiction, instead of remaining a separate territory.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The Australian House of Representatives Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs recommended in a 1991 report that the Northern Territory annex the islands.Template:Sfn In 1998, John Howard's Coalition debated the issue in the leadup to the 1998 Northern Territory statehood referendum, and stated in a campaign release that it would "pursue incorporation of the Ashmore & Cartier Islands into the Northern Territory before or at the time of Statehood".<ref name="Garrick 2020">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="ASPI 2018">Template:Cite web Website incorrectly filed the statement under 2007, but the statement itself says it was released 30 September 1998.</ref> However, these efforts did not lead to any changes.

Environment and protection

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File:Cartier Island.png

Cartier Island and surrounding reef (NASA satellite image)

The Ashmore Reef Marine Park and Cartier Island Marine Park are both classed as strict nature reserves (IUCN Ia) and protect biodiverse areas of significant and international importance, as well as cultural heritage.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Cartier Island is an unvegetated sand island,<ref name="Europa2004"/> with access prohibited because of the risk of unexploded ordnances. There are no ports or harbours, only offshore anchorage. Today, all the wells in the Territory are infected with cholera or otherwise contaminated and undrinkable.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The Australian Border Force vessel Template:Ship is stationed off the reef for up to 300 days per year.<ref name="FactSheet">Template:Cite web</ref> The islands are also visited by seasonal caretakers and occasional scientific researchers.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Economy

The area around the Ashmore and Cartier Islands has been a traditional fishing ground of Indonesian fishermen for centuries, and continues to be.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> In the 1850s, American whalers operated in the region.<ref name=DIRD/> Outside of fishing, the islands were historically used as sources of guano, beche-de-mer, trochus and tortoiseshell.<ref name=sun/> Mining of phosphate deposits took place on Ashmore Island in the latter half of the 19th century.<ref name=DIRD/>

Petroleum extraction activities take place at the Jabiru and Challis oil fields, which are adjacent to the Territory, and which are administered by the Northern Territory's Department of Mines and Energy on behalf of the Commonwealth.<ref name=DIRD/>

Migration

As Ashmore Reef is the closest point of Australian territory to Indonesia, it was a popular target for people smugglers transporting asylum seekers en route to Australia.<ref>Anita Roberts "Don't let them drown" Inside Indonesia Apr–Jun 2001, vol. 64</ref> Once they had landed on Ashmore Island, asylum seekers could claim to have entered Australian migration zone and request to be processed as refugees. The use of Ashmore Island for this purpose created great notoriety during late 2001, when refugee arrivals became a major political issue in Australia. The Australian Government argued that as Australia was not the country of first asylum for these "boat people", Australia did not have a responsibility to accept them.Template:Citation needed

A number of measures were taken to discourage the use of the territory for this purpose, such as attempting to have the people smugglers arrested in Indonesia; the so-called Pacific Solution of processing them in third countries; the boarding and forced turnaround of the boats by Australian military forces; and finally excising the territory and many other small islands from the Australian migration zone.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In October 2001, the Royal Australian Navy detained two Indonesian boats carrying asylum seekers for seven days in the Ashmore Island lagoon. These boats were later returned to Indonesian waters through the use of force and deception.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>