Aussie envoy pushing to end whale hunt

New whaling envoy Sandy Hollway says Australia will continue to push Japan to call
off its hunt this summer but has hinted at settling for something less.
Japanese whalers are planning to go ahead with their annual so-called scientific
hunt in the Southern Ocean off Antarctica with a kill quota of nearly 1,000 whales.
Mr Hollway, named by the federal government on Monday as its inaugural whaling
envoy, has already held talks this month in Tokyo with Japanese fisheries, foreign
ministry and ruling party officials.
He said the government was continuing to request a complete halt to whaling this
summer.
"My feeling is that should continue to be Australia's position but I wouldn't want
to hold out false hope that a complete cessation will be achieved," Mr Hollway said.
He is returning to Japan later this month for further talks.
"I'll hold any comment about alternate positions until we've had those discussions.
"(Cessation) might be more than we're going to get but let's see."
Mr Hollway's part-time appointment comes 10 months after the Rudd government came to
power promising to appoint an envoy.
The Sydney Olympics chief and former diplomat thinks he can have an impact where the
environment minister and Australia's full-time commissioner to the International
Whaling Commission (IWC) cannot.
"I'm going to try to add value with targeted high-level diplomacy from time to
time," he said.
"To operate in a more chance-your-arm, creative and higher-level diplomatic way than
perhaps a full-time official can."
Environment Minister Peter Garrett said the appointment was the next step in a
comprehensive strategy to end commercial and scientific whaling.
"Mr Hollway's appointment builds on the intensive diplomatic engagement the Rudd
Labor government has undertaken to date, and will see Australia deepen our dialogue
with leaders in Japan and other countries ahead of the southern summer," Mr Garrett
said in a statement.
The federal opposition says the envoy's engagement is too little, too late.
"We have no problems with Sandy Hollway, he's a fine individual. We do have a
problem with the fact they promised this 10 months ago - Japan simply gets the
message they're not serious," environment spokesman Greg Hunt told reporters in
Canberra.
Mr Hunt said the government had also gone quiet on its earlier stated aim of taking
Japan to the International Court of Justice over its whaling.
But Mr Garrett said the government was continuing to look at the possibility of
international legal action.
Greenpeace said it was encouraging that Mr Hollway had begun talks with Japanese
officials and intended to visit Japan again before the whaling fleet departs.