Prime Minister Tony Abbott will not raise whaling with Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe

Updated

The Opposition has seized on Tony Abbott's "dead silence" on the issue of whaling, accusing the prime minister of being a different leader when abroad.

The Prime Minister is attending the G20 conference in Switzerland where he is meeting his Japanese and Dutch counterparts, as well as the governor of the Bank of England.

He says he takes the issue of whaling "very seriously" but will not raise the matter with Japan's prime minister Shinzo Abe in their discussions because the Japanese already "well know" Australia's position.

"I want to focus today on issues where we can make progress, I don't want to just go over old ground," Mr Abbott said.

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten said it was another example of Mr Abbott pretending to talk tough at home for votes but squibbing it when the time came to deliver.

"The Prime Minister before the election talked tough about whaling ... the Prime Minister was going to be the whale's best friend," said Mr Shorten.

"Once he gets into power, gets overseas, starts rubbing shoulders with other people including the head of Japan – dead silence.

Mr Shorten said whaling was a "legitimate" issue to be raised on the international stage, especially given Japan is a friend of Australia's.

"If Tony Abbott's got this great relationship with Japan why wouldn't he raise issues that you can raise with friends?" he said.

Hunt says progress made on three-part plan

Environment Minister Greg Hunt said last week the Government has a three-part plan for dealing with whaling which includes monitoring in the Southern Ocean, diplomatic representation in Japan and the International Court of Justice (ICJ) case, which is awaiting a decision.

Speaking in Tasmania, the Minister said progress had already been made this summer as a result of his "extensive" communications, including face-to-face discussions with the Japanese.

"At this stage all indications are that they have not entered territorial or the exclusive economic zone waters and at this stage the indications are that the intention is that they won't breach either of those, which is a dramatically different position to what we saw under Labor," he said.

At Davos, Mr Abbott also backed the ICJ case - which was brought by the former Labor government - saying it needed to be conducted diplomatically.

"I think if you do have a significant difference with a valued friend and partner, you should approach it in the best possible spirit and the best possible way," he said.

"And yes, I think that was an entirely appropriate way of doing it."

Abbott to focus on free trade agreement in talks with Japan

Greens leader Christine Milne said she was not surprised by Mr Abbott's reluctance to raise the thorny issue, saying it was a continuation of his timidity to tackle the big issues on the international stage.

"Tony Abbott avoids the hard questions every time he meets with overseas leaders," she said.

"He's ducked it again with Japan when it comes to whaling. He abandons taking it up to any of these countries - the same in Sri Lanka on human rights and war crimes."

Mr Abbott says he will focus instead on concluding the Japan-Australia free trade agreement during his meeting with Mr Abe, citing the recent breakthrough in clinching a deal with South Korea.

"We have already concluded negotiations with Korea. I am very happy with the way those negotiations have turned out," he said.

"We certainly should get much, much better access for our agricultural exports to Korea and we will get more access to their manufactured goods.

"Similarly, I am looking for a win-win deal for the people of Australia and the people of Japan and that will be the focus of my discussions with the Japanese prime minister."

Topics: foreign-affairs, government-and-politics, whaling, international-aid-and-trade, trade, japan

First posted