Allowing whaling nations to kill a limited number of the animals is the only way ensure control, New Zealand's representative on the issue has said.

Former PM Geoffrey Palmer said attempts to reach a global deal on whaling would fail unless nations could compromise.

Australia, which wants a total ban on whaling, has expressed alarm at Mr Palmer's comments, and said it could not back such a scheme.

And they're not the only ones.  This move is as popular in NZ as the government's plans to allow mining in national parks (meaning: not at all).  But its what happens when you elect a bunch of right-wing arseholes whose primary foreign policy goal is not to represent NZ values, but to toady to any country bigger than us.

Fuck you, Geoffrey Palmer.  You don't speak for me.