Australia goes to court to stop whaling

Written by kreeol on May 27, 2010

Australia has launched a historic legal case against Japan to end whaling in Antarctic waters for good.

It's the first time any country has used an international court to try to stop whaling, and delivers on an election promise for Labor.

But the move has also created tensions between Australia and its second-largest export market, Japan.

On Friday, the federal government announced it would next week lodge a formal application against whaling at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the Dutch city of The Hague.

The case could take years to resolve, but if everything goes Australia's way, the last whale to be harpooned in Antarctic waters is already dead.

Japan's Fisheries Minister Hirotaka Akamatsu said of the legal action: "It is very disappointing."

He added that Japan's "research whaling" was approved under the rules of an international moratorium on commercial whaling.

Foreign Minister Stephen Smith insisted Australia and Japan would stay friends, despite the legal action.

He spoke to his Japanese counterpart before the announcement.

"The agreement between Australia and Japan is that we will treat this matter in a calm, responsible and mature way," Mr Smith said.

"We will treat this matter effectively as an independent legal arbitration of a disagreement between friends."

Labor has flip-flopped on whaling.

Before the last election it promised to take legal action, then in February this year it deferred action until after the next election. Now it's back on, with Environment Minister Peter Garrett blaming a failure of diplomacy.

"We want to see an end to whales being killed in the name of science in the Southern Ocean," he told reporters in Sydney.

A major meeting of the International Whaling Commission in late June appears very unlikely to strike a deal to stop whaling. It may instead approve a proposal to legalise commercial whaling, which could obstruct legal action.

Australian Greens' leader Bob Brown said Friday's decision was aimed at the election, expected later this year. Labor is under fire for failing to deliver on its promises.

"It is very careful election engineering, rather than any stay on the harpoons," Senator Brown said.

Commercial whaling is banned; Japan hunts whales in the name of scientific research, which is allowed.

The ICJ is the global court for international law. Australia is likely to argue before the ICJ that the "science" claim is fake and the whaling is commercial.

Australia may also argue that Japan is breaching an Antarctic treaty which requires extra approvals for whaling.

Don Anton, an international environmental lawyer and ANU lecturer, said Australia had a "fairly debatable" legal claim.

"I think Australia could win ... I think both sides have legitimate arguments," he told AAP.

Mr Anton said the case could take two to five years. Australia could seek an injunction to prevent Antarctic whaling in the meantime. If this was successful, and if Australia won the case, and if Japan respected the decision, then whaling in Antarctic waters has already ended.

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott said the legal action was "a smokescreen for the government's failures".

Mr Abbott opposed "so-called scientific whaling", but would not be drawn on whether he supported legal action. He has previously raised concerns that legal action could jeopardise trade with Japan.

Japan imported A$38 billion worth of Australian produce last year, most of it coal, iron ore and beef. It is also the key member of the US alliance in North Asia.