Mark Dreyfus (Isaacs, Australian Labor Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Speaker. Last century commercial whaling decimated global whale populations. Two million whales were killed and some species were hunted almost to extinction. In the 1980s an international moratorium finally brought the slaughter to an end. We stepped back from the brink and now have a second chance to protect and learn about these magnificent creatures. Despite the moratorium, whales can still be hunted under special permit and more than 10,000 have been killed under Japan's so-called scientific whaling programs in the Southern Ocean since 1988.

Mr Fletcher interjecting—

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