Rachel Siewert (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate—

(a)

expresses its concern over the treatment of Junichi Sato and Toru Suzuki, two Japanese Greenpeace activists who were held without charge for 26 days and are currently on strict bail restrictions, pending a court case into their role in exposing the embezzlement of whale meat from the Japanese Government sponsored whaling program;

(b)

notes that:

(i)

on Thursday, 19 March 2009, Greenpeace Australia is coordinating concerned Australian citizens to hold peaceful protests outside the Japanese Embassy in Canberra, to voice their concerns over the Japanese Government’s handling of this trial, and

(ii)

no charges have been laid relating to the embezzlement of whale meat by the crew of the Nisshin Maru whaling vessel, and that the Japanese Public Prosecutor has subsequently dropped the investigation into the involvement of the crew and whaling officials in this illegal trade; and

(c)

calls on the Australian Government:

(i)

to press the Japanese Government to take action on the alleged embezzlement of whale meat and to ensure that international human rights treaties, of which Australia and Japan are signatories, are upheld, and

(ii)

to request the International Whaling Commission to launch its own investigation into the embezzlement of whale meat by crew members of the Japanese whaling fleet.

Question put.