Labor raises a harpoon to strike at Japanese whaling

[Omaha Steve]

Source: theage.com.au

Labor raises a harpoon to strike at Japanese whaling


Jason Koutsoukis
May 20, 2007

A RUDD Labor government would use the navy to protect whales in Australian waters.

Labor's environment spokesman, Peter Garrett, said the Howard Government's "business as usual" approach had failed and it was time to "pull out all stops".

"We believe there needs to be an amplification and increased intensity on the Japanese," Mr Garrett told The Sunday Age."There is a strong case to say we ought to be providing a monitoring capacity given that there will greater levels of whaling activity than we have seen before.

"We are relying on the Japanese to tell us what their take is, so I think it's time we went in there and instituted a much more effective monitoring role."

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/labor-raises-a-harpoon-to-strike-at-japanese-whaling/2007/05/19/1179497342303.html

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[Demeter]

1. Sounds Like a Good Plan To Me= Best Wishes, Australia!

[Solo_in_MD]

2. Title is a little misleading...there is no indications that anything will change the status quo.

[paulthompson]

3. Hey, I recognize that name!

"Labor's environment spokesman, Peter Garrett,"

That's Midnight Oil's lead singer. I looked it up on Wikipedia and sure enough, he's a Labor MP now, and their environment spokesman.

[micraphone]

4. Oz Poli rocks...

He sure is!

One of OZs most successful rock bands ever. Pete has gone from singing political songs to making political speeches. Conservation was always a major passion.

[Coventina]

10. That is totally awesome!! Peter Garrett, you rock!!

:yourock:

Go get those whaling bastards!!

[provis99]

5. Why aren't they enforcing the laws now?

As I read it, the Australian government knows Japanese whaling ships are violating Australian sovereignty. Whats the holdup? When Portuguese and Spanish trawlers fished illegally in Canadian east coastal waters, the Canadian Navy scared the daylights out of them by firing shots across their bows! Owners were put in jail and trawlers were seized and sold as scrap metal. Surely Australia can do no less to protect whales in its sovereign waters?

[LeftyMom]

7. Japan is a major trading partner, so they're trying to avoid an incident.

Personally I think that's bullshit. If my neighbor shows up in my backyard snitching tomatoes out of my garden it's not me causing an incident if I chase them off.

[One_Life_To_Give]

8. No Whales taken in Exclusive Economic Zone

The Whales are taken in Antarctic waters, not within 200 Nautical Miles of Australia. Their claims to territorial waters beyond that are like the US claiming rights to the middle Atlantic.

IOW This is a lot of doubletalk. Make people hink they are going to do something. When all they will do is what they have already done. The Japanese Whaling Fleet may only exercise the Right of Innocent Passage within the Australian Exclusive Economic Zone.

[Barrett808]

9. Also, the Japanese don't recognize the Australian Whale Sanctuary

And the Aussies don't seem too inclined to push the matter.

[shenmue]

6. Japan ought to see where this is headed

Everyone else seems to have wised up about this; most countries are opposed to whaling, and when pretty much the whole world tells you something is a dumb idea, maybe they ought to take stock of where they are, and decide that some things are more important. Selfishness ought to take a back seat to the environment.