WAW still kept every email from the Labor Party during pre-election of their promises. Peter Garret denies the promise of taking them to court yet it would seem its not the case in his media releases. The below message was recieved by WAW on the 13th November 2007:

On 18 May 2007, Federal Labor announced a bold new approach to protect our whales, including commitments to:

 

·        Take Japan to international courts such as the International Court of Justice or the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea to end the slaughter of whales;

·        Make formal representations to the Japanese authorities – at bilateral and multilateral meetings - about its practice of whaling;

·        Enforce Australian law banning the slaughter of whales in the Australian Whale Sanctuary;

·        Monitor and surveillance of whaling vessels operating in Australian waters, and intercept vessels operating illegally in the Australian fishing zone; and

·        Establish a national network of whale and dolphin sanctuaries.

 

Meanwhile, the Howard Government has demonstrated its lack of serious commitment to end whaling, refusing calls to monitor whalers operating in the Southern Ocean, and rejecting international legal action, including seven options put forward by the expert Sydney Legal Panel in May 2007.

 

The Government also stands in the way of enforcing its own laws banning the slaughter of whales in the Australian Whale Sanctuary.

 

Protecting whales – and preserving our $300 million whale-watching industry – requires more than the Howard Government’s hollow words and inaction.

 

It would seem that the whales infact requires more then the Rudd's Governments 'hallow words' and 'inaction'. It is true that Howards Party approach was less confrontional, yet at least they carried through with their plans, Rudd has yet to act on one of their promises.

So where does this leave the whales now? what has the Labor party done at least? Well so far Japan has added endangered species to their quotas, discussing adding Humpback whales to their quotas and planning to conduct coastal whaling. In addition to this, anti-whaling organisations have been kicked out of certain ports and even banned from some.

Quite interesting enough is that Australia is willing to charge Sea Shepherd if they were to violate Australian law in the Antarctic Australian EEZ but not Japan. In 2006 whaling season the Robert Hunter collided with one of the whaling fleet ships and the Australian Federal Police investigated the matter and said to Paul Watson "if we find you in violation we will lay charges" Paul replied and asked "what if you find Japan to be in violation of the collision?" Police, "We can't do a thing".

To top Rudds hypociritcal appoach it was discovered today that Australia has cut funding for their entire anti-whaling campaign giving ther green light for Japan to break any Australian law they want, the Daily Telegraph reports:

THE Rudd government has quietly moved to axe its Special Envoy on Whaling after announcing the job with much fanfare before the last election.

The May Budget signals the end of the envoy, with no additional funding for the office or for the Government's plans to challenge to Japanese whaling in the International Court of Justice.

Despite scrapping these two election promises, taxpayers have already spent $300,000 on sending Special Envoy Sandy Hollway to nearly a dozen countries.

Vote: Has the Rudd Government sold out on whales?:
http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegrap...#vote-now-form

Mr Hollway, appointed in October, vainly attempted to stop Japanese whaling in the Southern Ocean.

After being touted by Environment Minister Peter Garrett as Australia's "first" anti-whaling envoy, the Budget confirms that the position has now been scrapped - with no further funding allocated for the role.

Mr Garrett vowed to appoint an envoy in December, 2007 but it took him until October, 2008 to give Mr Hollway the job.

The role lasted barely five months, with the contract ending - again without fanfare - in early March. Mr Garrett tried to dodge the issue yesterday.

"The Envoy is part of our comprehensive diplomatic engagement on this issue," his spokesman said.

Opposition environment spokesman Greg Hunt has condemned the money spent by the Government on the now-axed envoy's position. Mr Hunt said: "Last week we discovered that Mr Garrett spent nearly a quarter of a million dollars on a mammoth tour to the International Whaling Commission meeting in Chile last year.

"The touring party of 15 staff and various officials had more members than the Australian cricket team.

"This is a government that can (rack) up billions of dollars in debt without blinking but is happy to fund overseas travel for diplomatic chit-chats (that have) failed to deliver a ban on whaling."

At the time, Mr Garrett labelled Japanese "scientific whaling" a sham and appointed Mr Hollway as part an Australian diplomatic offensive to end the practice. But the Opposition claims the Government's effort has been dogged by incompetence and failure.

Full editorial from the Daily Telegraph:

http://www.seashepherd.com.au/forum/showthread.php?p=28684#post28684

She joined the World Society for Protection of Animals (WSPA) in calling on the New Zealand government to reject the proposal, which will be discussed at a meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) on June 22 in Portugal.

Castle-Hughes, 19, said the proposal would effectively lift the IWC's moratorium on commercial whaling, "opening the floodgates for this cruel industry to grow".

She said that many governments believed the measure could act as leverage to control Japan's so-called "scientific" whaling programme, which is permitted under IWC rules.

"Unfortunately, this is not the case," Castle-Hughes said.

"In fact, it could not guarantee a reduction in the number of whales killed by Japan, Norway or Iceland. WSPA has scientifically proven evidence that there is no humane way to kill a whale, with some whales taking an hour or even longer to die."

She expressed pride that New Zealand was one of the first countries to speak out against commercial whaling, but the government had not yet publicly come out against the new proposal, "which would give the green light to this outdated and unspeakably cruel practice".

Castle-Hughes was 11 and had no acting experience when she filmed Whale Rider. She became the youngest female ever nominated for a best actress Oscar for her performance.

The letter expressed "extreme disappointment" in a decision by the former government, which quit down last month over the island's financial collapse, to permit annual catches of 150 fin and 100 minke whales.

"We call on Iceland to reconsider this decision and focus on the advancement of the (International Whaling) Commission, and the long-term rather than the short-term interests of the whaling industry," it said.

The letter, seen by Reuters, was signed by senior diplomats in Reykjavik of the United States, Germany, Britain, France, Finland and Sweden. An international moratorium on whaling has been in force since 1986.

The new government of Prime Minister Johanna Sigurdardottir, which took office this month, has said it will review the decision to resume whaling.

Iceland ended a 20-year ban on commercial whaling in August 2006, issuing quotas that ran through August 2007. After a temporary halt, the country resumed whaling in May last year, despite protests by environmentalists.

As one of its last acts before it resigned over the economic crisis, the center-right administration of Prime Minister Geir Haarde announced in January that Reykjavik would set five-year quotas for fin and minke whales.

Whalers have placed advertisements in Icelandic newspapers this year saying the hunts could bolster the economy by creating jobs for exporting whale meat to Japan.

"Whaling belongs to the past," said Martin Norman of environmental group Greenpeace. "There's no real market for the meat in Japan. This won't create jobs."

Fin whales are rated as endangered by the international Union for Conservation of Nature, which groups governments, scientists and conservation groups.

Don't forget to send your own personal boycott letter to Icelandic companies and the Icelandic Government:

http://worldagainstwhaling.webs.com/campaigns.htm