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Q+A's panel of Paul Holmes, Dr Jon Johansson, Ella Henry and Michael Barnett discuss the interview with Sir Geoffrey Palmer .
PAUL So Sir Geoffrey seems to speak some good commonsense there, we've gotta save the Whaling Commission, we may have to allow Japan to commercially whale, we bring Japan into the fold, we've been screaming at Japan for years to no avail, what do you think Jon.
JON JOHANSSON - Political Analyst
Well first off you'd have to concede I think that a strategy
rethink was necessary, I mean what's going on down in the southern
ocean every year is just - it's like an annual season of Russian
roulette, so a strategic rethink was in order, but I'd be very
surprised if the New Zealand public is very supportive of, as Guyon
said, this notion that you have to kill the whales to save them,
because it's such an emotive issue.
PAUL But they're killing them no you see with the so-called scientific whaling, what do you think Ella?
ELLA HENRY - Former Greenpeace Director
Well I think whaling like Dolphins and Anti Nuclear is part of the
New Zealand culture, it's part of our psyche to defend these
creatures, and I think most New Zealanders are appalled that the
killing is going on in a sanctuary, that's got to be illegal and
we've got to make a stand on it, I'm just saddened that it's NGOs
and not GOs that seem to be doing the best work.
JON I hear you.
PAUL Michael.
MICHAEL BARNETT - Auckland Chamber of Commerce
It seems strange to me that we have a moratorium that hasn't
worked, and so we're now going to put up something else and expect
it to work, you know that seems to me the public's perception of
this - it's almost we've got a set of values, we've stated those
values, but we're prepared to prostitute those values and I don't
think that that will fit.
JON And the route cause is really the Japanese cultural chauvinism over this, and really I think the only effective thing that's ever gonna reduce the whale kill is when the Japanese consumer, but even now the Japanese consumers are not you know embracing this product, and less and less, and yet the Japanese government is completely stubborn.
PAUL I suppose bringing Japan and Norway and Iceland, the whaling nations, back into the fold, might be useful, but they might also see it as license?
ELLA Absolutely and I think that would be an appalling message to send, and I think the demonising the great mass of Japanese and Norwegian people has not worked either. Really I think the money's gotta go in, these enormous amounts of money for international meetings should be going into re-education programmes because you're right, the consumption of it is going down in those countries.
PAUL He made a point of saying, there is not point approaching this whole issue with religious zeal.
MICHAEL There isn't, but I still believe that a country like New Zealand should be able to state its values, agree that there are differences and not compromise those, it sends the wrong message.
