Whalers 'overreacted to childish pranks'

March 17, 2008 - 5:56AM

Japanese whalers helped the conservation cause by overreacting to harmless protesters who boarded one whaling ship and hurled rancid butter at others, a former federal minister says.

Ian Campbell, who served as the federal environment minister until his resignation in 2005 and is now a member of the anti-whaling Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, described the group's recent actions against Japanese whalers as "childish pranks".

The Sea Shepherd Coalition's anti-whaling vessel, the Steve Irwin, returned to Melbourne on Saturday, with Captain Paul Watson declaring its intervention against the Japanese whaling fleet this summer a success.

Among the highlights of the activists' confrontation with the whalers, two Steve Irwin crew members boarded a Japanese whaling vessel, the Nisshin Maru, to deliver a protest letter and were briefly detained by the Japanese.

This was followed by Japanese protests about activists hurling rancid butter onto whaling ships and allegations from Mr Watson that the whalers had shot at him.

Mr Campbell said the Sea Shepherd actions were "childish pranks" that did no harm to the whalers but greatly aided the conservation cause.

"I think they (the Japanese) always overreact and they help the media make a bigger story out of it," Mr Campbell told ABC Radio on Sunday.

"Firing back at the Sea Shepherd - as Arnie Schwarzenegger used to say, 'Make my day', I think it was.

"By depriving (crewmen) of the Sea Shepherd and effectively arresting them for a few days, it created a worldwide media event that helped the Sea Shepherd and helped the conservation cause.

"Throwing rancid butter ... what happens in school yards around Australia in school leavers week.

"We're trying to stop the slaughter of whales using ... childish pranks. Nothing more than childish pranks that do no harm to the Japanese."

Mr Campbell is now a member of the international advisory board of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.

The former WA Liberal senator resigned from federal parliament in 2005 following revelations he had a 20-minute meeting with disgraced former WA Labor premier Brian Burke.

Mr Campbell said he looked forward to touring with Sea Shepherd on the Steve Irwin.

"I'll be there definitely and I would like to catch up with them as soon as I can," he said.