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34 Austl. & N.Z. Mar. L.J. 1 (2020)

handle is hein.journals/ausnewma34 and id is 1 raw text is: The 46th Annual MLAANZ Conference Auckland 12 September 2019 Frank Stuart Dethridge Memorial Address FROM AUTOMATION TO AUTONOMY - CAN THE LAW KEEP UP? Paul David* 1 Introduction I am delighted and honoured to give this address dedicated to the memory of Frank Stewart Dethridge. Frank Dethridge was the senior partner at Mallesons, Sydney, who had the foresight to recognise the importance of maritime law for our countries and take steps to establish this Association. In 1974 he called the first meeting of those interested and an Australian association was formed. The development was noted in New Zealand and, with Ian Mackay from P and I Services Wellington to the fore, New Zealand joined the Association a year later. My involvement does not go that far back, but it does now seem a long time since I was persuaded by Brad Giles to attend my first MLAANZ meeting in 1990 - Brad could be very persuasive! I would never have thought it likely then, that, nearly 30 years later, I would give this address. Over the years the address has been given by a number of leading lawyers on a wide range of topics of interest, and I feel very honoured that MLAANZ has asked me to follow them. Time does flow by quickly (and seems to accelerate) and I was surprised when I reflected on the subject I eventually chose; this produced some sobering thoughts - those who attended the early meetings of MLAANZ in the mid-1970s might have regarded some of the technological developments which are the starting point for this address as pure science fiction, and I may not have to address the issues which I will talk about today in practice. In keeping with the theme of this Conference my topic concerns developments in technology which many consider are destined to change the face of maritime commerce and shipping operations most profoundly. Shipping and trade, like other areas of human activity, are going through an ongoing revolution driven by the development of digital technology, artificial intelligence or learning computers and robotics, which allows the creation of global inter-connected computer systems. These systems exchange and analyse data and make decisions operating physical things. This has been described as the fourth digital industrial revolution which is changing, and will change society, more fundamentally than the earlier industrial revolutions which involved the invention of steam engines and electricity. Against this background of broad general change, the address will examine the issues arising from the likely development of ships which are capable of operating without direct human intervention by persons on board, whether as a result of remote control by on shore controllers, or by autonomous direction by intelligent computer systems on board the ship (or a combination of those two systems). It is, however, important to bear in mind that the change to ships (which fundamentally disturbs one's general idea of a 'ship') is part of much broader transformation in which highly integrated digital systems are being developed to organise commercial activities, such as the carriage and transfer of goods. The extract from Tennyson's poem Locksley Hall, which is on your conference programme, was written in 1835. It contains an extraordinary piece of romantic poetry and prophecy about international trade, in which the poet anticipates the development of the carriage of goods by air. * Paul David QC BA (Hons) LLM (Cantab) Barrister, Eldon Chambers Auckland. www.pauldavid.co.nz (2020) 34 A&NZ Mar U 1

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