The Full Court of the Federal Court of Australia has held that a
foreign maritime lien for the supply of bunkers cannot exist in
Australia.
Further, the Court held that a foreign right will only be
characterised as a "maritime lien" in Australia if it is,
or is closely analogous to, a maritime lien which would be
recognised by Australian law. Historically, Australia only
recognises maritime liens where the maritime claim is for salvage
remuneration, collision damage caused by a ship, seaman's
wages, master's wages and disbursements in the course of a
voyage, and claims for bottomry and respondentia (the latter two of
which are hardly heard of today).
The Court held that this approach "provides clarity,
simplicity and predictability; it preserves the forum's rules
of priority; it promotes coherence with other relevant legislation
and other maritime rules; and it conforms with the maritime policy
reflected in the forum as to what rights should obtain
jurisdictional
