Environment groups say the International Whaling Commission's (IWC) proposal to allow some whales to be killed is a return to commercial whaling.

The IWC's proposal would let whalers harpoon 400 minke whales and 10 fin whales each year in Antarctic waters until the 2015-2016 season.

Fin whales are an endangered species and green groups say the only reason their numbers are strong again is because of the ban on commercial whaling.

Australia says it will not support the proposal and in a surprise twist New Zealand has also said it will not support it.

The next meeting of the IWC in Morocco in June was always going to be heated, but Friday's announcement from the IWC guarantees the debate will be loud and long.

Australia is against whaling and is very worried this latest proposal may be supported.

"We'll look at the IWC statement carefully but on face value it falls very well short of any outcome that Australia could ever accept, and I repeat what we've said all through this process and that is that Australia remains resolutely opposed to commercial and so-called scientific whaling," Environment Minister Peter Garret said.

"We will not support a proposal which would sanction commercial whaling and we've put an alternative set of proposals which we think go towards achieving the conservation goals which we believe the IWC nations should set for themselves."

Australia wants a proposal that bans whaling for commercial and scientific reasons.

"We need to strongly press for no whaling in IWC endorsed sanctuaries. We need to agree on the scientific procedures that underpin all IWC decisions," Mr Garrett said.

'Legitimises whaling'

Environmental groups are outraged by the IWC proposal.

The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) says the proposal endorses the killing of whales in one of the most critical feeding grounds, the Southern Ocean.

Mick McIntyre from Whales Alive says the proposal is flawed.

"This proposal would mean the return to commercial whaling because it clearly is a proposal that would legitimise whaling over a 10-year period," Mr McIntyre said.

"To me it's like if you were a parent and you said to your kid don't worry about us telling you what to do or receiving any discipline, you do what you like for 10 years and then we'll come and talk to you about how you went and then we'll talk to you about discipline at the end of those 10 years.

"I mean it's a free for all and it's completely legitimising what Japan has been doing in a scientific whaling program. It completely allows them to get away with murder basically."

This is the first time the IWC has put a figure on the numbers of whales it would allow to be killed.

The proposal was put forward in an attempt to break the deadlocked debate.

Non-whaling countries which support it, such as the US, believe a compromise will mean the number of whales killed will be closely controlled.

Three weeks ago there was international outrage when New Zealand said it would consider this proposal, but it now says the proposal is offensive and inflammatory.

"The proposal for a consensus decision proposed by the IWC chair and deputy chair today falls seriously short of being a basis for diplomatic settlement to the whaling debate," New Zealand foreign affairs minister Murray McCully said.

"In terms of the specifics, the proposed catch limits for the Southern Ocean are unrealistic and unacceptable from New Zealand's point of view.

"The suggestion that there should be a small quota for fin whale is an inflammatory proposal in my view."

Mr McIntyre hopes other nations will now follow New Zealand.

"New Zealand's change of heart is very, very welcome. I think commonsense has prevailed with the New Zealand government," he said.

"They saw the writing on the wall that this was a complete contradiction of the proposal. That all this proposal does is give the whaling countries everything they could possibly want."