Grant Visas to Sea Shepherd

Preamble

Japan has asked the Australian Government to act against Sea Shepherd - as a direct and blatant result, Captain Paul Watson and 1st Officer Peter Hammarstedt have been denied visas to enter Australia. 

To all intents and purposes, it seems that the government of Australia is giving Japan the green light to slaughter Australia's whales in the Southern Ocean whale sanctuary.

This December, the Japanese whalers will head deep within the Australian Economic Exclusion Zone with a mission to slaughter 1035 whales, with some whales likely to take over an hour to die. Of the 679 whales killed during the 2008/2009 whale hunt in Antarctica, 304 were female. Four of the female whales were lactating and 192 were pregnant at the time of death. The Japanese government's "Cruise Report" gives gruesome details on the foetuses killed. The four lactating females would each have had a dependent calf that would inevitably have starved to death.

Australians are proud of their affinity with the coasts and understand that whales are highly intelligent, socially complex, sentient creatures that play a vital role in the health of our oceans.  So much so that whale watching is now a $360 million a year industry. 

Labor's pre-election promise to stand up to the Japanese whalers has been broken. This means that the only thing that stands in the way of Japanese whalers slaughtering whales in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary is the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. 

Petition

I am a citizen of Australia and I am strongly opposed to the illegal whaling activities by Japan in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary

We, the undersigned, call on Senator Chris Evans, Minister for Immigration to immediately grant visas to Captain Paul Watson and 1st Officer Peter Hammarstedt to enable them to take command of the ship Steve Irwin and allow them to depart from Australia for the Southern Ocean.