Captured short-finned pilot whales are seen on the deck of a whaling ship at Taiji Port in Japan's oldest whaling village of Taiji, 420 km (260 miles) southwest of Tokyo in this June 4, 2008 file photo.
Captured short-finned pilot whales are seen on the deck of a whaling ship at Taiji Port in Japan's oldest whaling village of Taiji, 420 km (260 miles) southwest of Tokyo in this June 4, 2008 file photo. Reuters

Australia has announced it will support New Zealand's anti-whaling proposal to end Japan's whaling operations permanently. The International Whaling Commission is scheduled to meet this week as New Zealand presents a resolution to make "scientific whaling" illegal.

According to reports, Foreign Minister Murray McCully has urged other countries to support New Zealand's proposal to ban whaling. The Australian government has responded to that plea for support. Australian Environment Minister Greg Hunt declared New Zealand and Australia have a "common cause" to make sure whaling is banned forever. Hunt said Australia will be voting to ensure a permanent whaling ban is imposed and uphold the decision of the International Court of Justice.

New Zealand's resolution is seeking to continue to put rules around the decision of the International Court of Justice. It also requires countries not to engage in whaling until the work of the scientific committee's work is done.

Hunt said differences in opinion might be expected but he remains hopeful the International Whaling Commission will adopt New Zealand's resolution.

According to Glen Inwood, a consultant working for the Japanese government, the resolution could be successful but he believes even if it passed, it would not be binding. He said New Zealand has a "habit of overstating the legal significance" of such resolutions.

The whaling commission's meeting in Slovenia will be the first since it the International Court of Justice has ruled against Japan's annual Antarctic whale hunt. The court decided that Japan's whaling operations were not scientific and therefore illegal.

Japan had previously said it will respect the court's decision. It called off its whale hunt for the 2014/15 season. However, reports said Japan is expected to present a new plan to meet requirements of the international court.

New Zealand's resolution will incorporate the court's decision with the rules of the whaling commission. The meeting will also put forward a controversial bid to expand Greenland's whaling quota. The commission is expected to prioritise more complex issues in the meeting.

Conservationist groups have been calling for an end to Japan's whaling operations since commercial whaling has been banned in 1986 under a moratorium by the whaling commission. Japan's previous whale hunts were done for the purposes of "scientific research."