Senate debates

Tuesday, 5 September 2017

Motions

Whaling

4:42 pm

Photo of Peter Whish-WilsonPeter 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.

Photo of Stephen ParryStephen Parry (President) Share this | | Hansard source

Leave is granted for one minute.

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

Mr President, it was indeed your political party, the Liberal Party, that banned whaling in Australia under the previous Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, and since that time all cetaceans, whales and dolphins in Australian waters and in the Australian whale sanctuary in the Southern Ocean have been protected under Australian law. I would like to acknowledge today the brave conservationists and activists from around the world who have joined Sea Shepherd, gone to the Southern Ocean and literally stopped thousands of whales being killed by illegal Japanese whaling—every Christmas, while we spend time with our families and go on holidays,

This motion today recognises the fact that Sea Shepherd has spent 13 years in the Southern Ocean protecting whales. They have been very successful in that campaign. Sadly, they no longer will be conducting a Southern Ocean campaign, and this calls on the Liberal government to enact its election promise and send a customs vessel to the Southern Ocean this summer.

4:44 pm

Photo of Cory BernardiCory Bernardi (SA, Australian Conservatives) Share this | | Hansard source

I seek leave to make a brief statement.

Photo of Stephen ParryStephen Parry (President) Share this | | Hansard source

Leave is granted for one minute.

Photo of Cory BernardiCory Bernardi (SA, Australian Conservatives) Share this | | Hansard source

For the benefit of Hansard and the Australian people, I would like to point out that the Prime Minister is currently Malcolm Turnbull. It is incumbent upon Senator Whish-Wilson to refer to him in the present tense rather than as the former Prime Minister.

Photo of James McGrathJames McGrath (Queensland, Liberal National Party, Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister) Share this | | Hansard source

I seek leave to make a short statement.

Photo of Stephen ParryStephen Parry (President) Share this | | Hansard source

Leave is granted for one minute.

Photo of James McGrathJames McGrath (Queensland, Liberal National Party, Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister) Share this | | Hansard source

Australia is working hard to end commercial, or so-called scientific, whaling and promote whale conservation. We continue to make representations at the highest levels in Japan to this effect and we continue to work hard through the International Whaling Commission to uphold the global moratorium on whaling. The decision by Sea Shepherd to cease its activities in the Southern Ocean is a matter for that organisation. The government does not condone any actions at sea that might be considered dangerous or unlawful.

Question agreed to.