Greens MPs

In an update on our previous post, we now have more information on the two Greenpeace activists who were arrested in Japan following a four-month investigation into activities onboard the Japanese factory whaling ship and what happens to the whale meat that is processed following their 'scientific' research.

Greenpeace intercepted one of many boxes of whale meat smuggled off the Nisshin Maru disguised as personal baggage, exposing the fact that choice pieces of whale meat were being given to certain crew members for personal gain and that Japanese taxpayers were footing the bill. Once the Greenpeace investigation had been finalised, all the evidence - including the box of whale meat, was handed to the Tokyo District Public Prosecutor, who began a formal investigation.

The Australian Greens are extremely concerned that these activists are being held without charge by Japanese police; it would appear these actions are politically motivated to shut down the successful Greenpeace campaign. It is hard to think otherwise when the Japanese Authorities sent in forty police to raid the Greenpeace offices and seize all computers and financial records. This is a disproportionate reaction to this matter.

Japanese police have arrested two Greenpeace activists for exposing a whale meat scandal involving the government-sponsored whaling program.

We've had some polling done, and the results should really be a wake-up call for the Government on whaling.

Polling indicated that there is very strong public support for the Australian Government to take international legal action to try and stop the Japanese whaling program (87%), even if it means compromising our relationship with Japan (91%).

To follow on from Tim H's post on Senate Estimates transcripts, I thought I'd also post a few links to some of the more interesting discussions coming out of estimates.

Senate Estimates have shown the true lack of commitment from the Rudd Government on the fight against whaling in our Antarctic waters.

The Australian Greens are calling on the Federal Government to make photographic and video evidence collected during the Oceanic Viking operation available to HSI.

Bringing together previous discussions here about whaling and computer gaming, have a look at Harpooned

The debate flying in Crikey.com.au about whaling campaigns in recent days is symptomatic of the way predictable players use the summer whaling season as an opportunity to further their anti-environmental campaigns. Here's my contribution to the debate from today's Crikey email. Apologies if the links are behind the Crikey paywall...

Steve Shallhorn, my former boss at Greenpeace Australia Pacific and a man whom I admire, has, I fear, looked straight through a forest to focus on one particular tree.

His suggestion in Crikey yesterday that ITS Global may have taken on the Japanese whalers as a new client may or may not be an accurate guess. But it is not relevant.

Khalil Hegarty's piece in Crikey on Wednesday was not about the whales. The details of the piece, sprinkled liberally as usual with half-truths and distortions, were a side-show to the main event: the ongoing campaign to discredit and undermine the environment movement.

A complex situation has arisen in the Southern Ocean where the Japanese Whaling fleet run by The Institute of Cetacean Research is attempting to slaughter nearly a thousand whales for the purpose of 'scientific research.'