When is a whale sanctuary not a whale sanctuary? This is a question the Australian public would be entitled to ask themselves after the events of the past week.

The Howard government in 1999 took an assertive step and proclaimed all of the waters 200 miles offshore Australia as part of the ''Australian Whale Sanctuary''. Those waters extend not only off the mainland and Tasmania, but all of Australia's external territories, such as the Australian Antarctic Territory and Macquarie Island.

Within the sanctuary all whaling activities are prohibited by law.

Notwithstanding Australian law, in the past week there have been three incursions by Japanese whaling vessels into the sanctuary and the Gillard government has appeared powerless to stop these actions. The most significant is occurring off the coast of the Australian Antarctic Territory in the Southern Ocean, where the Japanese whaling fleet has been conducting its annual operations since late December.

For this whaling season, Japan is planning to take up to 900 minke whales and up to 50 fin whales as part of its quota for so-called ''scientific research''. Then, on January 5, reports emerged that the Japanese whale support vessel Shonan Maru No. 2 had entered the sanctuary off the Western Australia coast as it shadowed two Sea Shepherd vessels en route to Fremantle.