Letter to Peter Garrett - the time has come on whaling action

[Carolyn Bailey]

The Australian Government won an election in 2007 based on false claims they would stop the Japanese whaling, they are about to go to another election trying to run away from that promise. I would like to ask you to please help us to stop that happening.

Please use this letter, or your own, this is a letter from The Hon Greg Hunt MP, Shadow Minister for Climate Action, Environment and Heritage to Peter Garrett.

Thank you sincerely for your help <3


I have written to Peter Garrett to call on him to submit documents for international court action against whaling.

After all, this was a repeated promise of the Labor Party in the lead up to the 2007 election.

There is a growing sense that the Labor Party is trying to buy time to get it past the 2010 election without delivering on its promise.

Australians won’t put up with the ALP trying to dodge the promises about the slaughter of these majestic creatures.

I have told Mr Garrett that the Government should submit initial court documents to the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea by January 31.

But these documents could be withdrawn if Japan agreed to our request to put an end to whaling by June 30 this year.

Australians have been disillusioned by Labor’s failure to live up to its whaling promises.

It should take the steps of lodging the court proceedings as a measure that it has the slightest intention of living up to those promises.

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Text of my letter to Mr Garrett

1 January 2010

The Hon Peter Garrett MP
Minister for Environment, Heritage and the Arts
PO Box 6022
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600
[e-mail]
[e-mail]

Dear Minister,

I am writing to express my extreme frustration and disappointment that you have once again refused to send a ship to the Southern Ocean to chronicle the annual slaughter of the great whales.

From this I can only assume that you believe you already have sufficient evidence to mount an international court case against Japan.

The Labor Party has been promising for three years now to take Japan to the International Court of Justice, yet new whaling seasons have continued to roll round without any action.

Will you now commit to a date to institute your promised court case?

As a show of your commitment to keep this promise, I call on you to submit court documents to the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea by January 31.

These documents could be withdrawn if Japan acceded to our request to put an end to whaling by June 30 this year.

If that does not happen, your Government would at least be denied the opportunity of using an impending election as an excuse to ignore the promise it made in 2005 – half a decade ago - to stop this senseless slaughter once and for all.

Yours sincerely,

Your name
your address