JAPANESE intentions to return to whaling in the Southern Ocean have triggered a call from Greens whaling spokesman Senator Peter Whish-Wilson for hardened federal defence.
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Senator Whish-Wilson said Japan's 2015-16 plans to continue whaling must be met with a message of intolerance from Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott.
Senator Whish-Wilson said Japan's Institute of Cetacean Research flagged continued hunts in its legal attacks against Sea Shepherd Conservation Society in the United States.
The institute's publicised desire to return has surfaced despite the harpooning of its JARPA II activities in an International Court of Justice hearing late last month.
Senator Whish-Wilson said an iron-fisted response must be issued to Japan.
"We warned the Abbott government before and after the ICJ decision that Australia would need a strong diplomatic response to cement the result," he said.
"Tony Abbott left Japan without raising the whaling decision with their government. He sought out photo opportunities, but didn't seek to defend the whales in the name of our national interest."
Senator Whish-Wilson urged that all legal avenues be explored to prevent the return of whaling to the Southern Ocean.
