Three days ago the Australian Minister for the Environment, Tony Burke, was “aware” of an incursion by Japanese whalers into the exclusive economic zone near Macquarie Island, Australian Greens Leader Bob Brown said today.
“But today New Zealand’s foreign minister Murray McCully has revealed the Japanese government has given an undertaking that Japanese whaling vessels will not enter New Zealand’s territorial waters, after a government warning to stay out,” Senator Brown said.
The Japanese whaling ships are harassing Sea Shepherd ships in the sub-Antarctic islands while, further south, the Japanese are free to slaughter whales.
“The New Zealand government is highlighting what a spineless approach Canberra has taken to the aggressive Japanese whalers.”
“Mr Burke is missing in action, while hundreds of whales are being slaughtered,” Senator Brown said.
