Greens leader Bob Brown says Australia must do more to stop whaling after reports Japan is going ahead with this season's hunt in the Antarctic.

Japanese newspaper Yomiuri is reporting the hunt, described by Japan as research whaling, will go ahead later this year.

Reports suggest the Japanese government will boost the whaling budget by about $27 million.

Senator Brown says historically Australia has not done enough to stop the practice and he will raise the matter with Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd.

"Australia should have a naval presence down there, it should be having footage of what's happening with the whales to give to the rest of the world, it should be raising the diplomatic objections both in Japan and elsewhere round the world," he said.

"As ever the Greens will be pursuing this in the Senate where both the big parties always back off."

A panel had been set up to discuss the future of whaling after the militant Sea Shepherd group disrupted the hunt for the past few seasons.

There were also calls for spending cuts to pay for the reconstruction in the tsunami devastated north-east.

A minority of the panel had recommended ending the program, but Yomiuri says the government decided scrapping the hunt would be against the national interest because it would giving in to obstruction.