Sea Shepherd founder Paul Watson has just released a commentary on Facebook entitled, “Politics – The Art of Breaking Promises.”
As Watson complains. Australian politicians often fail to stick to their promises. This is of particular concern when it comes to their actions or lack of action over the protection of whales in the Southern Ocean.
For more details on what the Australian government is doing, check out the ABC story.
Politics – The Art of Breaking Promises
Commentary by Captain Paul Watson
Courtesy: Captain Paul Watson, Facebook
The last time Australia had an Environment Minister who sincerely cared about protecting the whales of the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary was in 2007 when Senator Iain Campbell was Minister of the Environment. Senator Campbell openly supported Sea Shepherd’s efforts and actually gave us assistance. He was the most aggressive spokesperson ever to address the International Whaling Commission in condemning illegal Japanese whaling and today he is on the Advisory Board of Sea Shepherd Australia.
Unfortunately he was replaced in the election of 2007 by a bold faced liar by the name of Peter Garrett. Garrett, the former lead singer for Midnight Oil fooled the electorate into believing that he really cared about the whales and cared about the environment. Just before the election that brought the Labor Party into power, he promised to get tough on Japanese whaling. He condemned the Coalition for doing nothing despite the efforts of Iain Campbell and promised to send a ship to monitor the whaling. I remember his words, “a Labor government will end whaling.”
Peter Garrett, once an advisor to Greenpeace turned out to be the absolute worst Australian Environment Minister in the history of the Australian government as he gave approval after approval to mining, logging, and any other fast buck making scene to despoil the country.
Upon election he immediately back pedaled and stalled and it was only because of the outrage of the Australian people and the efforts and influence of the Green Party that he sent down a ship to take a few pictures in 2008. That was the only time they sent down a ship. Kevin Rudd’s government did take the Japanese government to the International Court of the Hague and then said that was all they could do as the whales continued to die. We are still waiting for a ruling from the ICJ.
When Peter Garrett attended his first IWC meeting in Santiago, Chile in 2008 he cowered before the stares of the Japanese whaling delegation and said nothing of value. Thankfully Iain Campbell arrived as Sea Shepherd’s official representative and reminded the Japanese and the IWC that Australia’s passion for the whales was stronger than ever.
And while Labor was in power, Opposition shadow Environment Minister Greg Hunt went on the warpath condemning Labor inaction and chided the government for not sending down a ship to at least monitor the situation. And then just before the election he told the Australian people just what they wanted to hear. He promised to send a ship to the Southern Ocean. It was a clear as day promise and the Australian people believed it, primarily because Labor had done so very little about Japanese whaling and little about most everything else as well.
And so the Coalition won again and brought into power a sleazy politician who is so right-wing that the American Tea Party members would be drooling over him as a candidate, that is if they had any idea where Australia could be found.
To be fair, I believe that Greg Hunt was 100% sincere in wanting to send a ship down to the Southern Ocean and I believe he sincerely is concerned and wants to stop the Japanese whale poaching. The problem is however not him but his Prime Minister who promptly tossed him under the bus.
Tony Abbott now has the honor of being the most unpopular Australian Prime Minister in history and for many reasons, but one of them his is distain for conservationists and for marine sanctuaries. He not only will do nothing to defend the whales in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary, he now wants to abolish all of Australia’s Marine Sanctuaries.
Our only hope is that abolishing the sanctuaries was also a campaign promise of the Liberals and with luck this will be another promise that the Abbott government will renege on. Unfortunately this is the kind of promise he tends to keep.
The trouble is of course that the Australian government (it does not matter which party) is stuck between a rock and a hard place. The overwhelming majority of Australians want to see the whales protected but the people of Australia are not the first priority of the Australian government and the environment is not a priority at all.
The first priority is keeping Japan happy. Australia kisses Tokyo’s ass because economically Australia is a colony of Japan. The Japanese got through money what they were unable to achieve through their military.
And they don’t just want to control Australia. They have their eyes set on the vast riches of Antarctica – the coal, the cobalt, the oil, the uranium, the fisheries. The whales are just expendable pawns in their quest for economic control of the Southern Continent.
Australia’s claims to the Australian Antarctic Territory have been contemptuously dismissed by Japan. Japan is in blatant contempt of an Australian 2008 Court ruling that prohibits Japan from whaling in the Australian Antarctic Territory.
What is the point of a nation declaring sovereignty and responding to an invasion of that sovereignty by doing absolutely nothing. If these waters were claimed by Russia, China or the United States, their warships would be down there to politely escort them out of the Sanctuary.
Instead the $150 million dollar misnamed “Ocean Protector” is to the North of Australia protecting the nation from poor Asian invaders escaping poverty and oppression while the successful Asian invaders quietly control resource extraction and the politicians they have bought and paid for. Even the Australian breweries are owned by Japanese corporations.
So as the ice class “Ocean Protector” bullies poor men, women and children in the tropics, the Japanese whalers invade in the South to slaughter Australia’s whales without monitoring or restrictions.
Oh yes Greg Hunt said he is going to send a plane. Not sure when but the day it flies over the whaling ships, the whaler’s will look up and say, “Oh there’s a plane” and will carry on whaling, well at least they will try. It’s hard to kill a whale with a Sea Shepherd ship
literally up your ass.
And why is it called the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary if whales can be slaughtered within it. Japan’s activities are a blatant contempt of an international established legal sanctuary.
And this nonsense about “scientific Whaling” is so ridiculous that no one who knows anything about the facts can support it. Last week the Sea Shepherd helicopter documented a whale being cut up on the deck of the Nisshin Maru. There was not a single scientist on deck, just workers with flensing knives acting like the butchers they are and butchery is not a science.
Sea Shepherd has a decade of working out of Australian ports and there is a close bond between Australians and Sea Shepherd. Sea Shepherd ships are based in Williamstown and have berthed in Fremantle, Albany, Melbourne, Hobart, Cairns, Broome, Brisbane, and Sydney.
And the fact is that without the support of the Australian people, the port and maritime authorities, the police and fire departments and non-governmental organizations, Sea Shepherd would not be able to function.
Sea Shepherd Australia has become one of the most active and successful Sea Shepherd entities in the world, surpassing the U.S. organization and second only to France in the level of activism.
And now Sea Shepherd Australia is being led by former Greens leader and Senator Bob Brown and they still have Senator Iain Campbell on the Advisory Board.
Sea Shepherd Australia, like all Sea Shepherd groups worldwide does not play at politics. Former Senator Dr. Brown is a Green and former Senator Campbell is a Liberal.
Sea Shepherd understands that the oceans and diversity in the oceans must be defended and protected for the sake of all peoples no matter their culture or political affiliation because the foundation of all that Sea Shepherd stands for is the reality that if the oceans die, we all die.
And thus it is that Sea Shepherd Australia is doing what the Lbor and Liberal governments of Australia have refused to do – defending the whales, defending the sanctuary, defending Australian sovereignty and defending the honor of the people of Australia who have been embarrassed by the pathetic lying and shameful wimpishness of the politicians sitting on their rears in Canberra selling out the resources of the nation to the highest bidder.
Courtesy: Captain Paul Watson, Facebook
