Jenny McAllister (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Emergency Management) Share this | Hansard source

I am aware of reports of Captain Watson's arrest, and I understand that officials are engaging with the Captain Paul Watson Foundation. There are some limits on what I will say in this forum, because this concerns legal proceedings involving a foreign national in another jurisdiction, but I do wish to observe that Australia's role generally, and our work with international partners, has been extremely important. We of course stopped whaling in 1979, and we have been a global advocate for cetacean conservation. Our leadership has directly contributed to a whaling-free Southern Ocean. It is promising that, as a result of that leadership and through global action, we are seeing some whale populations recover—for example, humpback whales, which migrate through our waters. Other populations, unfortunately, like blue whales, have been slower to recover. This is an ongoing role, and Australia intend to play our part. (Time expired)