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The Government says its position on whaling remains unchanged, after reports that the Australian Government is looking at abandoning its bid to pursue legal action against Japan over whaling.
The Australian newspaper yesterday reported the Australian Government was ready to abandon its A$1 million ($1.2 million) bid to take Japan to the international court.
The newspaper claimed that the New Zealand Government had also given up on pursuing Japanese whalers in the international court.
But New Zealand's Conservation Minister, Steve Chadwick, said the Government's stance was unchanged.
"New Zealand has examined legal options for taking a case against Japan with great care. In the past we have identified obstacles to legal action.
"That said, New Zealand continues to be open minded about the possibility of taking a case against Japanese whaling at some time in the future should diplomatic efforts fail to resolve the problem."
Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's Government embraced the use of the United Nations international court soon after the election, using aircraft and ships to gather evidence against Japanese whalers in the Southern Ocean.
But the Australian said New Zealand authorities had since discovered "significant difficulties" with taking Japan to the international court and had abandoned the tactic.
The search for evidence against Japan in its "scientific hunt" for whales became contentious when the crew of the environmental crusader ship Sea Shepherd was accused of piracy and violence after activists threw bottles of a smelly "acid" and boarded a Japanese whaling ship.
Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Stephen Smith - who is making his second visit to Japan - said through a spokeswoman that a judgment about legal action would be made at an appropriate time based on legal advice and the evidence gathered by the Customs vessel Oceanic Viking.
Australia is estimated to have spent more than A$1 million gathering evidence against Japanese whalers, including a surveillance voyage by the Oceanic Viking and aerial surveillance.
- NZPA
