THE Rudd Labor government has been left floundering like a beached whale by the criminal activities of the anti-whaling protesters in the Southern Ocean.
Despite Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's pre-election promise to police the Japanese whaling fleet's annual cruise deep into the Antarctic ice, and his promise to take the Japanese whalers before an international court, he has done nothing substantial to halt or even reduce the whale harvest.
The Green voters, whose preferences Rudd relied upon to win government in 2007, have been taken for a ride.
Rudd's failure to deal openly with the Japanese Government on this issue over the past two years now places the precious diplomatic relationship with one of Australia's most important trading partners at risk.
Having done nothing, Australian authorities have now been prodded into action by the activities of the Sea Shepherd organisation and the sinking of its attack craft, the Ady Gil, last week to lodge an official request with the Japanese Government to end its whaling in the Southern Ocean.
Not that the gesture will achieve anything. The Japanese can legitimately claim that they have traditionally hunted whales and that Australia, with its history of dealing with indigenous rights, should respect the wish to keep an aspect of traditional culture alive.
The Japanese can also point to Australia's annual cull of kangaroos and ask why this nation slaughters an animal which is its national symbol yet gets upset when whales, which know no geographical boundaries, are hunted.
Acting Prime Minister Julia Gillard has declared that Australia will push the anti-whaling case "with all of our force", but that statement rings increasingly hollow given her government's inaction since coming to office.
Before the Rudd government wastes more taxpayers' money pandering to the Greens and the extreme Left, it should consider some facts about Japanese whaling and the aggressive strategy pursued by the Sea Shepherd organisation and its leading light, Paul Watson.
Australia's jurisdiction over the area of the Southern Ocean it claims as territorial waters is not recognised by the Japanese, nor by most other nations. It was a handy construct to ease the minds of the population last century when colonial land-grabs were still all the rage.
Australia's claim is meaningless.
What is more realistic is the maritime law which covers collisions at sea, and here, the Sea Shepherd outfit and the master of its former protest vessel Ady Gil appear to misunderstand one of the most basic tenets of the law - preservation of life at all costs.
It is clear from statements issued by Sea Shepherd and those on the Ady Gil that the carbon-fibre "stealth" vessel went into the Southern Ocean solely to harass the Japanese whaling fleet which, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, were in lawful pursuit of whales.
According to reports before and after the collision between the Ady Gil and the Japanese vessel Shonan Maru No. 2, which was guarding the Japanese ships from the activists, the Ady Gil's agenda was to disable the Japanese ship by trailing cables into the craft's propellers.
A Sea Shepherd spokesman said before the collision that the Ady Gil was used to harass the Japanese vessel on Wednesday so another protest ship, the Steve Irwin, could try to shake it off its tail.
"The Ady Gil is painted with radar-deflective paint and is an effective stealth boat," she said. 'The Shonan Maru No. 2 was unable to see the Ady Gil approach.
The Steve Irwin headed off leaving the Ady Gil to harass and slow down the Shonan Maru No. 2 in order to allow the Steve Irwin to lose the Japanese tail that has prevented Sea Shepherd from locating the whaling fleet to date."
The collision occurred after a day of harassment of the Japanese vessel by the Ady Gil and another Sea Shepherd ship, Bob Barker.
During a skirmish on December 23, the Ady Gil's crew tried to entangle the propeller of the factory ship Nisshin Maru but were pursued by Shonan Maru No. 2, which was there to protect the whaling fleet.
The Ady Gil reportedly used the same tactics last week, repeatedly deploying and towing a cable from its stern intended to entangle the Shonan Maru's rudder and propeller.
Some of those on board were also boasting of shining laser lights into the eyes of the Japanese crewmen and firing some sort of chemical stink-bomb at the Japanese ship.
From a distance it all sounds like a jolly lark but, in the depths of the Southern Ocean, the world's wildest sea, such frivolities can become lethal in seconds.
There is no doubt that the Sea Shepherd gang, which rely on their publicity machine to reap funding for their stunts, knew exactly how dangerous a game they were playing.
Like martyrs seeking a cause, their vessel ended up in harm's way as they tried to disable the Japanese ships.
It is through sheer good luck that no one lost their life last week.
If these environuts really want to do some good, they should take themselves to Florida, where it is reported that tree-living iguanas have been frozen out of the branches by the latest subzero temperatures to result from the global-warming trend sweeping the world.
The place to save whales is in the courts, not on the high seas, and the stiffened lizards need help now.
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