Turnbull Should Press Whaling Concerns With Japanese PM Abe, Greens Say
Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull needs to do more to put an end to Japanese whaling by escalating talks with his counterpart Shinzo Abe, the Greens say. Mr Abe met with Mr Turnbull in Sydney on Saturday as part of a four-country trip intended to boost Japan’s trade and security arrangements in the Asia-Pacific region. The ABC has been told the topic of whaling was also mentioned during the meeting. Greens Senator Nick McKim said Mr Turnbull needed to take a stronger stance when voicing his concerns about whaling.
“It’s time for Mr Turnbull, instead of mentioning these issues in passing, to step up and make it abundantly clear to Mr Abe that Australia is not prepared to tolerate Japan continuing to take a donothing approach,” he said. “They should be demanding that Mr Abe ensure that the AU$1 million (FJ$1.57m) fine owed by Japanese whaling company to the Australian Government is paid. “[Australia should also be] demanding that Mr Abe respect decisions of international courts that have declared the Japanese whaling program illegal and ultimately to respect Australia’s territorial waters in the Southern Ocean.”
Japan suspended its annual whale hunt in 2014 after the International Court of Justice found its whaling programme, known as JARPA II, was not based in science and was therefore illegal. Japan then designed a new whaling programme that intended for fewer whales to be killed, but over a wider area. The International Whaling Committee found there was insufficient justification for killing whales in the name of science under the new programme.
Japan’s whaling activities continue despite continued pressure from environmental groups. The killing of whales and dolphins within the Australian Whale Sanctuary is prohibited by the Federal Government.
In 2015 Australia’s Federal Court fined Japanese whalers Kyodo AU$1 million (FJ$1.57m) for hunting whales within an Australian sanctuary. The fine has not been paid. The Federal Government has repeatedly condemned Japan’s whaling activities but has resisted calls to send a government vessel to intervene. ABC
AU$1 million (FJ$1.57m) is the amount owed by a Japanese whaling company to the Australian government