With Australia's general election just weeks away, environmental activists are gearing up to make Japanese whaling an issue in competitive districts.
Antiwhaling campaigners from the International Fund for Animal Welfare commissioned a poll released last week that shows 63 percent of Australians believe their Nov. 24 vote will be influenced by the stances of political parties on whaling. More than 87 percent of Australians think the government needs to do more to challenge Japan's whaling program, the poll found.
The IFAW has identified 13 districts up for grabs where whale-watching is a fairly large industry, including Eden-Monaro.
Held by the coalition government with a margin of 3.3 percent, Eden-Monaro is considered Australia's bellwether district because it has fallen to the party that formed the government every year since 1972.