Bethune 'downright ungrateful', says PM

Pete Bethune slammed the Government at a press conference this morning. Photo / Sarah Ivey

Anti-whaling protester Pete Bethune is "downright ungrateful" for the support he received from New Zealand officials while incarcerated in Japan, Prime Minister John Key says.

Mr Bethune returned to New Zealand on Saturday after receiving a suspended two-year jail sentence, but not before spending five months in a Japanese jail.

At a press conference today, he said Foreign Minister Murray McCully had instantly sided with the Japanese, saying he should have known what he was getting himself in for by boarding the vessel.

"I remain disgusted with the way Murray McCully has treated us from day one," he said.

"New Zealand has become like a fat little lap dog. We should be standing up for ourselves, not rolling over."

But Mr Key said Mr Bethune had received extensive help, and that it would have been inappropriate for New Zealand to intervene in the Japanese judicial process.

"I think he's downright ungrateful. The people in Japan did everything they possibly could," Mr Key told reporters in Vietnam.

"I've seen a list of the engagement they had with him. It was very extensive.

"They did everything they possibly could and I stand by the actions of our people in Japan, who worked extremely hard to help him through a very difficult process."

Mr Bethune should remember that he got himself into the situation, Mr Key said.

"He had a letter that said 'I do not want to be taken off the boat under any circumstances and I do want to be taken to Japan' and he was.

"We gave him all the support that we possibly could and, in the end, he's had a sentence that has allowed him to return to New Zealand but to somehow lash out and blame our people in Japan under the leadership of our ambassador there, Ian Kennedy, who has done a tremendous job for him, I think it's just ungrateful."

Mr Bethune today claimed his trial had been a miscarriage of justice because the Japanese whalers did not face charges for sinking his $3 million ship, the Ady Gil.

He maintained that his ship had done all it could to avoid the collision with the whaling ship that resulted in the sinking.

Before he was sentenced, the Sea Shepherd Society to which he belonged said there was no place in the organisation for him but later changed that stance, saying this was a tactical move in the hope of a lighter sentence.

But this message did not get to him until after he was sentenced, leading him to believe he had been betrayed by the organisation.

"That was the worst day," he said.

Mr Bethune said he would be spending time with his family and putting a book out soon and was not contemplating further protests yet.

"I've sacrificed a lot and whether I'll be back in Antarctica this year I don't know.

"I don't discount that someone is going to die down there sooner or later, there's no shortage of people willing to go down and risk their lives, but if someone were to die it would be someone from Sea Shepherd."

- NZPA