Peter Whish-Wilson (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

You shouldn't take this personally, Senator Ruston. It's not your fault. It is the government's fault that they have sent a message to Japan that we are not ridgy-didge about protecting our whales. I hope that it doesn't backfire.

My question was also very specific about why some countries in our region, such as Kiribati, Nauru, Tuvalu and Solomon Islands, have voted against the protection of whales in the Northern Hemisphere. They may well do so tomorrow. Is this a sign of our waning influence in the region, Senator Ruston? I certainly hope it isn't. I hope also it's not a sign of a lack of respect based on our lack of action on climate at the Pacific Islands Forum recently, which they made very, very clear they were very angry about.

My third question was also very important. If Japan, as they have threatened to do this week—and you're aware of this, too, Senator Ruston, through you, Chair—walk away from the International Whaling Commission if they don't get their way or they can't get a majority vote system in place, that means they walk away from the jurisdiction of an international rules based order around the protection of cetaceans. They have threatened to do this in the past. If they do that, if they go down that road, how will we respond? How will we respond as a country? What are our options? I put to the Senate that the most important thing we can do is let them know that if they do that we will not be buddying up to them on the Tran-Pacific Partnership Agreement, an agreement that Shinzo Abe, their Prime Minister, has led. We will walk away from the agreement: 'If you're prepared to do this by overturning a ban on commercial whaling, Australia will send the strongest possible message and walk away from the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement.' It is easy to do. I will wait and see how we progress tomorrow.

Question agreed to.