New Zealand's support of a compromise proposal with Japan to allow the killing of a set number of whales is being criticised by the Australian federal government.
Whaling commissioner Sir Geoffrey Palmer plans to put forward the proposal at the International Whaling Conference in June.
Australia's Federal Environment Minister Peter Garrett says New Zealand's proposal, that would give whaling countries the right to kill 1,500 whales a year, would destroy the moratorium on commercial whaling.
Mr Garrett says Australia will strongly argue its case for a blanket ban on hunting.
"We don't see merit in a proposal which is just about numbers, but which would see whales killed in order that others wouldn't be," he told the ABC.
Japan, Norway and Iceland are currently allowed to kill 3,000 whales each year.
Sir Geoffrey Palmer says the plan is the only way to control large numbers of whales being hunted, whereas an "emotional attachment to a moratorium that isn't working" is not realistic.
He concedes there is a great deal of unhappiness in New Zealand about killing whales, but says not all cultures see that issue the same way, so an international accommodation must be reached.
"We have a treaty; it's defective. Over time, we think it could be fixed."
The New Zealand Government says there would be checks and balances in place to ensure the whaling nations do not exceed the new quota.
International adviser to New Zealand's foreign minister, Gerard Van Bohemen, is quoted by the ABC as saying the deal is similar to already-implemented fishery agreements.
"The agreement is that if you take whales under this arrangement, you don't take them any other way, and it's supplemented with monetary and supervision requirements of the same sort that apply to fishery agreements," he said.
Australian conservation groups want a blanket ban on all whaling. Nicola Beynon from Humane Society International says New Zealand is selling out.
Environment groups in New Zealand say the plan legitimises commercial whaling.
