Warren Truss (Wide Bay, National Party, Minister for Transport and Regional Services) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for Gilmore for her question. She and I, as representatives of electorates which have significant whale-watching industries, are very interested in the preservation of whales and in ensuring their wellbeing. This government has taken a world lead in promoting the conservation of whales. We have been very active in progressing whale conservation domestically and through international fora, particularly the International Whaling Commission. The Minister for the Environment and Heritage, Senator Ian Campbell, is currently visiting a range of Pacific nations seeking support for the conservation of whales in the run-up to the next meeting of the IWC, to be held in a couple of weeks time.

There is a very real possibility that pro-whaling nations will have the majority at the upcoming IWC meeting and will seek resolutions to ultimately bring about a return to commercial whaling. We have to take this upcoming round of meetings very seriously. There is a risk that we could slip back on what has been achieved to date. So Senator Campbell’s current mission is a very important one—to seek to shore up support for what has been achieved to date and, hopefully, take the matter further.

The honourable member asked whether there were any alternative policies. In this instance the Labor Party do have some alternative views. They took little interest in whaling when they were in government. In fact, no Labor minister ever bothered to attend the International Whaling Commission meetings. Now their only solution to these problems is to take legal action—or similar responses. I was interested to note, however, that not all—

See this speech in context