Australia has become the first country to be granted exclusive property rights in Antarctica, experts say, raising questions about the exploitation of biological resources in this sensitive and disputed territory.
The expansion of Australia's seabed borders this week by the United Nations includes the Kerguelen Plateau around Heard and McDonald Islands, which extends southwards into Antarctica.
"This is the first property rights allocation for the area south of 60 degrees south and it will be contentious, but it has been sanctioned by the United Nations, it's unprecedented," Tasmania's Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems Cooperative Research Centre law expert Julia Jabour said.
Although this extension of jurisdiction does not appear to cover ocean fisheries, it does cover part of the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary seabed area.
Surely now that Australia is the only country with officially recognised territory this close to the Antarctic land and ice mass, it may be thought to have additional leverage in relation to the problematic issue of Japan's 'scientific' whaling.
Over to you, Minister for Environment and the Arts Peter Garrett.
Map of Australian territorial waters here.
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