About the high north alliance

	HIGH NORTH ALLIANCE N-8390 Reine i Lofoten, Norway. Tel.: (+47) 76 09 24 14. E-mail:hna@hna.no
Leseren har ikke støtte for innebygde rammer, eller er konfigurert til ikke å vise innebygde rammer.
Australia not to put its money where its mouth is
High North News 26.05.2005
Anti-whaling sentiments are running to a new record high in Australia. The Labor Opposition calls the Government’s “inaction” as “hypocrisy”, and asks it “to put its money where its mouth is”.
To this end, Prime Minister John Howard has written a letter to his Japanese counterpart, Junichiro Koizumi, urging him to not launch a new Antarctic whale research programme, which reportedly will double the number of minke whale catches to about 800, and expanded to also include fin and the humpback whales. Mr Howard says there is “no basis” for taking whales for scientific research, and that the knowledge can be obtained through non-lethal methods. “What a pathetic letter,” Greens leader Bob Brown said. (ABC Online, 24.05.05) “It’s time the Prime Minister moved from the diplomatic niceties to a little bit of tough talk.” Mr Brown wants to halt talks on a free trade agreement, which Australia is pushing with Tokyo, and to reverse the decision to send Australian troops to Iraq to protect Japanese troops. (ABC Online 16.05.05) Labor’s spokesman on the environment, Anthony Albanese, has suggested that Australia should scrap development aid to the neighbouring Solomon Islands because they agree with Japan’s whaling policy. (ABC Radio Australia, 24.05.05) In addition, Labor’s Foreign Affairs spokesman, Kevin Rudd, wants to take Japan to an international court: “Let’s take the entire Japanese scientific whaling regime worldwide (and) put it under scrutiny before the International Court of Justice.” (AAP, 20.05.05) “It’s time to bring this matter to the International Court of Justice, and the Howard Government to put its money where its mouth is.” (ABC Radio Australia, 20.05.05) Who’s afraid? Meanwhile, the Australian Government makes it clear that it has no intention to put its money where its mouth is. “It’s quite the wrong thing to use the excellent programme we have in Solomon Islands as leverage,” Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer said. (ABC Online, 24.05.05) Prime Minister Howard told Parliament that the legal advice is that Australia would probably not succeed through the international justice system. “The sort of action sought would not be supported by international law,” he said. (ABC Online, 24.05.05) While the Environment Minister, Ian Campbell, admits that any court action was likely to fail: “Quite frankly, if the legal option was one that we thought had any chance of success, we would take it.” (Canberra Times, 21.05.05) A seminal editorial in the Canberra Times (25.05.05) points out that since whaling is not prohibited by international law any international court action “could be an own goal both for Australia and for crusades to completely ban whaling”. The editorial says, “the objection to whaling is now primarily an emotional and aesthetic one, no longer primarily based on environmental considerations, including low whale numbers”. “[W]e may as well admit that most of us would object to any resumption of commercial whaling even if numbers had recovered, or if only “sustainable” harvests were planned.” Confident of the merits of its whale research programme, Japan, at last year’s meeting of the International Whaling Commission, suggested that those who consider the programme to be illegal have the option of bringing a case to the International Court of Justice. (Chair’s Report IWC56, p. 40) The High North Alliance’ secretary Rune Frovik says the legal analysis is clear. “Any international court would easily rule that Australia violates its legal obligations as a Contracting Party to the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling. Such a ruling would conclude that Australia does not act in good faith since it publicly denies the letter and spirit of the Whaling Convention’s objectives, and deliberately obstructs the work of the International Whaling Commission. Is this why Australia does not have the guts to go to court? Are they so afraid of defeat?” Tolerance “The Prime Minister John Howard should tell his fellow Australians that it’s time to demonstrate the same tolerance towards those peoples where whale meat is part of their dietary culture, as Hindus demonstrate for beef eating people, as Jews and Muslims demonstrate for pork eating peoples, and the tolerance that the world shows for Aussies feasting on kangaroos,” Rune Frovik says.

printer friendly version