Jennie George (Throsby, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts. Will the minister update the House—

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! I like to deal with these things straightaway. There were three people on their feet. The first person on her feet was the member for Throsby. The member for Throsby has the call, and she can repeat her question.

Jennie George (Throsby, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts. Will the minister update the House on how the Australian government is charting a new course on international whale conservation?

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

I thank the member for Throsby for her question and acknowledge her keen interest in the government’s position on opposing the killing of whales. I will be leading Australia’s delegation to the International Whaling Commission meeting in Chile, where I will introduce the Australian government’s proposal for a new future for the International Whaling Commission—a proposal that has attracted strong support from like-minded nations. This proposal has three elements: internationally agreed cooperative conservation plans for whales; collaborative research programs; and reform of the management of science, including an end to the granting of special permits for so-called scientific whaling. These proposals are underpinned by firm commitments and real science, including an extra $1 million from the government for the Australian Marine Mammal Centre to continue its non-lethal research program and to establish international cooperative research programs and conservation management plans for the great whales of the Southern Ocean.

Last Saturday I released a progress report on the global study I have commissioned of the science and economics of whale conservation. This study is bolstering our call for better protection of whales and providing important data to support our case at the IWC. Just this week members may have seen further scientific analysis of the threats climate change poses to whales—in particular, the potential impacts of shrinking Antarctic sea ice on whales’ critical habitats. This accumulation of new and existing threats is the reason why we must do all we can and why the government is committed to bringing an end to commercial whaling in all its forms. It is an approach that recognises that it is not good enough to go through the motions—like the last 12 years of ritualised, lacklustre and unfocused policy under the Liberal Party and like the last 12 years of rhetoric and press releases which produced nothing. We accept the need to strive for reform of the IWC and to work both inside and outside the commission to increase the protection of whales. That is why we have embarked on enhanced diplomatic efforts and why we continue to pursue a range of actions the previous government never contemplated.

I am surprised that the opposition is not supporting the Rudd Labor government’s reform proposals, given we are the only nation with a constructive proposal of this scope on the table at the International Whaling Commission. I look at what happened on the previous government’s watch and I see that the number of whales targeted by Japan more than doubled between 2004-05 and 2005-06. It doubled from 440 to more than 900, including a quota of endangered fin whales. That was on the previous government’s watch, and that is where we find ourselves today. When the member for Flinders was trying to defend 12 years of inaction, he told the ABC on 15 January:

Well, let’s be clear that we won every vote in the International Whaling Commission year after year.

Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister Assisting the Shadow Minister for Immigration and Citizenship) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Pyne interjecting

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

But that is wrong. For the record, we need to note that in 2006 anti-whaling countries, including Australia, lost a vote at the IWC—with a simple majority calling for a return to commercial whaling.

Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister Assisting the Shadow Minister for Immigration and Citizenship) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Pyne interjecting

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The member for Sturt.

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

All the while, the number of whales targeted doubled between 2004-05 and 2005-06.

Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister Assisting the Shadow Minister for Immigration and Citizenship) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

What about Lake Alexandrina? What about Lake Albert?

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The member for Sturt will get the opportunity to whale watch in Lake Albert!

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

We are not pretending that the IWC engagement is going to be easy.

Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister Assisting the Shadow Minister for Immigration and Citizenship) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Pyne interjecting

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The member for Sturt is warned!

Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister Assisting the Shadow Minister for Immigration and Citizenship) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Pyne interjecting

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The member for Sturt will leave the chamber for one hour.

Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Families, Community Services, Indigenous Affairs and the Voluntary Sector) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Abbott interjecting

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The member for Warringah will contain his excitement about people leaving the chamber.

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

The government is not pretending that the International Whaling Commission engagement is going to be easier, but the government actually do have a policy for reform. We have a constructive approach we are bringing to the table. But all the opposition ever seems to do is to talk down Australia’s prospects of success. All we have had from the opposition is negative or confused in approach and, when it comes to confusion, the member for Flinders could not wait for the Oceanic Viking to arrive in the Southern Ocean last January. In fact, he was pleading with the government on 16 January when he said the Oceanic Viking ‘must now arrive to not only help monitor and protect the great whales of the south but also to help act as a balance and to keep the peace on the high seas’. Of course, the Oceanic Viking did undertake monitoring and surveillance in the Southern Ocean, something that was never achieved in the 12 previous years of the Liberal government. Then we had the member for Goldstein making his contribution on 15 June about the Australian government’s action. He said:

It has reduced our credibility, reduced our leverage, our negotiating position in trying to reach a diplomatic solution.

I cannot think of a weaker message to be sending on Australia’s commitment to whale conservation than what the opposition have been saying, with their confused actions, their negativism and their record of seeing the whale quotas increase by a considerable number on their watch.

There is a lot of noise from members opposite because they recognise that their policy on this issue delivered absolutely nothing over 12 years. It is time for them to get serious and to resolve what they actually think about this issue and to look at the substantial engagement that the Rudd government has to get behind the strong proposals to refocus the International Whaling Commission on the conservation of whales—to come in with all of Australia as we chart a new course in the protection of these magnificent sea creatures.

Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I ask that further questions be placed on the Notice Paper.