Media
release
25 February 2010
The Australian Government has overnight
submitted to the International Whaling Commission
(IWC) a new proposal to advance Australia's
strong conservation agenda in negotiations
on the future of whaling.
This proposal outlines
the key elements that Australia views as
necessary to deliver an outcome in the IWC
negotiations. Specifically, the proposal
calls for:
whaling in the Southern
Ocean to be phased out within five years
all other whaling around the world, other
than aboriginal subsistence whaling, to
be phased out within a reasonable period
of time
all whaling to be brought under the control
of the Commission ending the practice of
countries being able to unilaterally grant
permits for so-called 'scientific' whaling
The Australian proposal also provides that
no new whaling be permitted on species or
populations not currently hunted, that hunting
for vulnerable species end immediately and
no whaling to take place in sanctuaries.
Australian officials
will advance this proposal at next week's
meeting of the Small Working Group on the
Future of the IWC, in Florida.
This group was charged
with the task of breaking the gridlock that
has beset the IWC for decades. As a nation
with a keen interest in whale conservation,
Australia has been a constructive participant
in these discussions since they commenced
in 2008.
However, the Government
has made clear throughout this process that
we need to see real results.
While the Government
acknowledges the efforts made by participants
in these discussions, the approach now under
discussion in the Commission falls well
short of any outcome that Australia could
accept.
That is why we have
now brought forward this new proposal to
advance true conservation objectives; and
specifically to bring about an end to commercial
and so-called scientific whaling right around
the world.
Australia will continue
to engage in the Small Working Group process
to do all we can to achieve the objectives
outlined in this new proposal. However if
Australia's principled conservation objectives
cannot be secured in the negotiations, Australia
will initiate legal action against Japan
in the International Court of Justice before
the next Southern Ocean whaling season.
The full text of the
proposal is attached and will be available
at www.environment.gov.au.
