The Rudd government should fund a replacement of the $2 million Sea Shepherd ship Ady Gil rammed by a Japanese whale killer patrol boat yesterday.

"The bill should be sent to Tokyo with a demand for payment," Australian Greens Leader Bob Brown said in Hobart today.

Senator Brown has also called for the release of film of the Japanese whale slaughter taken by Australia's ‘Oceanic Viking' two years ago. Environment Minister Peter Garrett has suppressed the release because it would upset Tokyo.

"The Rudd government has transferred control and policing of Australia's Antarctic waters from Canberra to Tokyo. That includes Commonwealth Bay where yesterday's violence by the Japanese fleet occurred. It should be renamed Incompetence Bay to signify the Rudd government's role in protecting Australia's interests there," Senator Brown said.

"Meanwhile, the Rudd government has hosted China's Minister for Resources Xu Shaoshi (The Age, p4) at Casey Base with the Chinese delegation ‘here about the potential of resources and how to use these resources'.

"This is deeply troubling but gives a clue to Labor's abandonment of its election promise to promoting the Antarctic for World Heritage protection status," Senator Brown said.

Media contact: Peter Stahel 0433 005 727