Greens call for end to Aussie spy planes aiding Japanese whaling

The Australian Greens today introduced a private Senators Bill to ban any form of Australian assistance to Japanese whaling, such as the use of spy planes.

"My Bill creates a new offence making it unlawful to provide services, support or resources to an organisation engaged in whaling so the Australian government and local companies can no longer assist Japan's brutal whaling regime," said Australian Greens whaling spokesperson Senator Rachel Siewert.

"Many Australians were appalled when it was revealed that Australian air services were used by a company with connections to the whalers to assist in this summer's slaughter.

"The assistance provided to the whalers was to track the main protest vessel of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society so that a ship from the whaling fleet could hinder the Sea Shepherd's pursuit of the main fleet.

"Without the Sea Shepherd on its tail, the main whaling fleet could undertake its mission of killing whales more easily.

"In response to the information that the Japanese whaling fleet had hired Australian planes from Hobart and Albany to track the Sea Shepherd ships' movements, Senator Bob Brown committed the Greens to act to ensure no such assistance could be provided in the future.

"Over 3500 people have signed an on-line petition supporting our position and we urge the Government to listen to the depth of public feeling and support the Bill.

"We want to go beyond the empty anti-whaling rhetoric of this federal government and ensure we don't actually assist the illegal slaughter of whales in Australian waters," Senator Siewert concluded.

Media Contact: Fernando de Freitas 0417 174 302

The Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Amendment (Prohibition of Support for Whaling) Bill 2010 amends the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act) to create a new offence related to providing assistance for whaling.