Australia accused of whaling bungle

(AAP) Australia has been accused of bungling international whaling talks and setting back a campaign to save whales.

Conservation groups say Australian officials derailed a motion that would have seen
Japan admit that one of the justifications it gave for whaling was dubious.
Japan and other whaling nations say that by culling whales, they are helping
preserve dwindling fish stocks.
In talks at the World Conservation Congress held this month in Spain, Japan and
other whaling nations were reportedly ready to sign up to a motion that there was
not enough scientific evidence to back this claim.
But conservation group WWF says Australia insisted on a tougher wording of the
motion, which caused whaling nations refuse to sign it.
Australia's federal opposition environment spokesman Greg Hunt said Environment
Minister Peter Garrett was doing more harm than good.
The original motion would have been a step towards ending whaling but Mr Garrett had
scuttled it, an "act of incompetence", according to Mr Hunt.
"Mr Garrett has further set back the push to end whaling once and for all," he said.
But Mr Garrett defended Australia's resolution, saying it was the truth.
The original motion could have been used to justify so-called "scientific" whaling,
he said.
"Australia's resolution, passed with the support of around 85 per cent of member
nations, puts the emphasis back on what the science is actually telling us, that
whale numbers are not impacting on fish stocks," he said.
Mr Garrett said Australia was working hard to stop whaling and to redirect the
International Whaling Commission's focus to whale conservation.
It is understood that while the original motion said there was not enough evidence
to support the "save the fish" argument, Australia's motion gave less room to move,
saying whales did not have an impact on fish numbers.