NZ Must Take Firm Line In Peter Bethune Case
New Zealand Must Take Firm Line In Peter Bethune Case
The
Alliance Party says it is deeply disturbing that
anti-whaling activist Peter Bethune could be jailed for up
to 15 years in Japan.
Alliance Party fisheries and
maritime spokesperson Trevor Hanson says it's time for the
New Zealand Government to tell Japanese authorities enough
is enough.
"The whaling issue is not about to be resolved in the forthcoming world whaling conference and people of New Zealand are being quietly prepared by our National Government for a soft agreement which will allow the slaughter to continue at a lesser rate of kills."
Mr
Hanson says New Zealand has been part of all the
meetings
and agreements permitting the current abhorrent
"scientific kill."
He says "scientific kill" is an
absolute misnomer.
"Twenty years have gone by with no reduction in the Japanese kill and the actions of New Zealand Governments during this time have all been to follow a path of diplomacy which has produced absolutely nothing."
Mr Hanson says the Japanese Government simply
don't care and it is extremely unlikely that they will agree
to any reduction in whale kill.
The New Zealand
Government is too scared to take a firm line because of
trade implications, he says.
"If the Government stand back and watch a New Zealand citizen jailed because of his actions against the Japanese whalers, actions supported by a majority of New Zealanders, then this Government will stand to be judged by not only New Zealanders but internationally."
ENDS