Peter Garrett (Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts) Share this | Hansard source

Well, you’ll enjoy this next bit, I would say to those opposite, because on the same day the Leader of the Opposition had a completely different view to his shadow minister. This is what the Leader of the Opposition said:

The only way we’ll persuade the Japanese to stop whaling is if Japanese public opinion changes.

And I quote:

We’re not going to stop them by sending a ship down there … because the more you attack the Japanese the more they are now inclined to say, ‘Who are you to tell us how to lead our lives?’

So the member for Flinders is talking about waving white flags and the Leader of the Opposition is saying that monitoring would be counterproductive. Who are we to believe in this House—the former Minister for the Environment and Water Resources or the shadow minister? The fact is the Liberal Party did nothing of substance to end whaling for 12 years and they do not have a policy now. The member for Flinders should spend less time trying to get himself on TV and more time supporting this government’s resolute actions on opposing whaling.

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