The federal government says it sees no legal way for Japan again to kill whales in the Antarctic, as the Asian power seeks backing for more scientific whaling.

Environment Minister Greg Hunt confirmed Australia's hard-line stance against any scientific or commercial whaling, in the government's first detailed comments on the sensitive issue since its International Court of Justice win over Japan in March.

Despite that decision, Japan's former fisheries minister Yoshimasa Hayashi said his country intended to renew lethal Antarctic scientific whaling in 2015-16, as it aims to re-establish full-scale commercial whaling.

Japan will begin to outline plans for the new scientific hunt to the International Whaling Commission, which begins its biennial meeting on Monday.

Mr Hunt said Australia would stand behind a New Zealand plan to toughen up controls over the issuing of IWC scientific permits. He was speaking to Fairfax Media ahead of his departure for the 88-nation meeting in Portoroz, Slovenia, where the IWC meets for the first time since the court rejected Japan's Antarctic program, finding it breached the global moratorium on commercial whaling.