The Australian Senate recently passed a motion by Greens Senator Rachael Siewert calling on the Government to set a timetable for the commencement of International legal action and also to send a vessel down to monitor the Japanese whaling activity.

"Australians do not want another summer to go by with hundreds of whales slaughtered under the guise of Japanese 'scientific research," said Siewart. "Minister Garrett has been quick to defend the Government's inaction on whaling, saying he only promised to give 'careful and serious consideration to the options for potential legal action'. How many more years do the Australian public have to wait for the Ministers' decision?  Diplomacy will not save any whales this summer, just as it has failed in the last few years," she concluded.

This year Sea Shepherd will be going to the Antarctic Whale Sanctuary to defend the Whales from Japanese harpoons alone.  It appears that the Kevin Rudd and Peter Garrett feel that the majority of the whaling will take place in the New Zealand search and rescue area of the Antarctic and that Australia has no responsibility in this matter.

"Whales don't recognize artificial boundaries in the ocean and the Japanese harpoons are very likely to follow them into Australian Antarctic waters," said Sea Shepherd Australia board member, Jonny Vasic.  "The whales are down there to feed their young in the krill rich waters of Antarctica.  The Japanese will once again be targeting nearly a thousand whales including 50 endangered Fin whales." 

The vast majority of the Australian People are against the killing of whales.  The vast majority of people around the world are against this slaughter, yet the governments of the world do nothing.  Just as in the past diplomacy will not save the whales.  The Rudd government may not be willing to do anything about the illegal killing of these magnificent creatures but Sea Shepherd will not rest until the killing ends.

Senator Siewert's motion is included below.

That the Senate:

1.) Notes that in January 2008, the Human Society International secured:
a. A ruling from the Australian Federal Court that Japanese whaling in Australia's Whale Sanctuary in Antarctica is illegal;
b. An order that it be stopped.

2.) Notes that the Australian Government has taken no action to enforce this ruling

3.) Urges the Australian Government to:
a. set a timeline for legal proceedings in an international court to stop illegal Japanese whaling if Japan does not commit to stopping whaling by 8 December 2008;
b. Send a vessel into the Southern Ocean to monitor Japanese whaling operations for the 08/09 whaling season.