Sea Shepherd helicopter pilot, Chris Aultman, has been granted a visa to enter Australia, Australian Greens Leader Bob Brown said today.

"I thank Immigration Minister Chris Bowen for his swift response to my request as to why two Sea Shepherd crew members were denied visas to enter Australia. Sea Shepherd's Chris Aultman and Tim Pierce, helicopter pilot and mechanic respectively, had both successfully applied before for visas to Australia. Mr Pierce is expected to be able to also join his colleague in Australia," Senator Brown said.

"The Japanese Government is sending a patrol boat from its Fisheries Agency to ‘strengthen the protection' of whaling ships as they illegally hunt whales in Australia's territorial waters. Japan has also taken tens of millions of dollars out of tsunami relief funds to help finance the whale killing fleet heading to Antarctica.

"I have serious concerns that the presence of the patrol boat may escalate tensions when Sea Shepherd tries to protect the whales the Japanese ships are slaughtering.

"The Australian Government must have a plan in place to ensure safety as the Sea Shepherd fleet prepares to leave Australian ports to defend hundreds of whales from Japanese whaling ships," Senator Brown said.

Australian Greens Leader Bob Brown and Senator Lee Rhiannon congratulate the advocates for women in Papua New Guinea for the years of effort that have paved the way for an amendment to the country's constitution to change the male-dominated Parliament before next year's election.

"The passage this week of the Equality and Participation Bill will mean that a clause can be added into the Constitution to establish women-only seats, taking affirmative action to combat unequal opportunity," Senator Brown said.

"This initiative provides a model that other Pacific nations can adopt to ensure fair representation of women in parliament," Senator Rhiannon said.

"PNG Greens Leader Dorothy Tekwie is working to ensure people also get help to protect one of their most important assets: the land. As she said during her recent visit to Australia, land not only provides mineral wealth, but also the food, water and living environment people rely on," Senator Brown said.

"Advocates are also working to improve representation at the provincial and local government level in a place where the muscle of foreign-owned corporations too often overrides local needs," Senator Brown said.

Senator Brown and Senator Lee Rhiannon have given notice of this motion:

That the Senate -
(a) congratulates the parliament of Papua New Guinea for passing, by an overwhelming majority, the constitutional amendment to create 22 reserved seats for women in its national parliament;
(b) recognises the leadership and hard work of the women of Papua New Guinea, who have been advocating for this reform for many years;
(c) acknowledges that the next step is enabling the legislation that will create the 22 new reserved seats for each province; and
(d) looks forward to seeing the reforms finalised in time to allow women candidates to stand for these seats in the 2012 national election.