Japan put on notice over whale hunt

The Rudd Government is set to dramatically escalate Australia’s efforts to stop Japanese whalers, sending a ship and an aircraft to gather evidence against them in the Southern Ocean, and organising a coalition of nations to campaign against the practice.

Risking a diplomatic row with our second biggest trading partner, Foreign Minister Stephen Smith also announced the Government would send an anti-whaling envoy to Tokyo, while Environment Minister Peter Garrett described what the Japanese were doing as cruel and barbaric.

However, Mr Smith