Peter Whish-Wilson (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate—

(a) notes that:

  (i) the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society conducted anti-whaling activities in the Southern Ocean, beginning in 2005, that prevented the slaughter of thousands of whales,

  (ii) the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society announced last week that they will no longer be conducting patrols in the Southern Ocean because the Japanese whaling fleet is now being supported by the Japanese military,

  (iii) Japan again plans to slaughter 333 Minke Whales in the Southern Ocean this summer under the guise of so-called 'scientific whaling' – most likely in the Australian Whale Sanctuary – and that the Japanese Parliament has recently passed a law to facilitate a return to full commercial whaling, and

  (iv) the Coalition Government promised in the lead up the 2013 election that they would send a patrol vessel to monitor whaling activity in the Southern Ocean, but that they have failed to fulfil this promise; and

(b) calls upon the Australian Government to:

  (i) outline the legal action Australia will be undertaking to prevent whaling in the Southern Ocean, and

  (ii) conduct monitoring and surveillance activities in Australian territorial waters in the Southern Ocean and in the Australian Whale Sanctuary.

I seek leave to make a short statement.