Kevin Rudd has threatened Japan with international legal action if it doesn't cease whaling, but the opposition has accused the Prime Minister of "dithering".
Mr Rudd said on Friday that Australia was pursuing Japan through diplomatic channels,but had set a deadline for it to end whaling in the Southern Ocean.
"If that fails, then we will initiate court action before the commencement of the whaling season in November 2010," he told the Seven Network.
"But that's the bottom line and we're very clear to the Japanese, that's what we intend to do."
Opposition Leader Tony Abbott said Mr Rudd's deadline was a tardy effort to honour its 2007 election promise to take Japan - Australia's second largest trading partner - to court over the whaling operations.
"This was a commitment that he made at the last election - now he's put it off to the coming election," Mr Abbott told reporters on Friday.
"If there is anything that illustrates more clearly that we have got a prime ditherer rather than a prime minister, it's this."
The Australian Greens say Japan should be taken to the International Court of Justice during the current whaling season, not next one.
"Thousands of whales have been slaughtered while Kevin Rudd has dithered over action," Greens leader Bob Brown said in a statement.
Australia should seek an injunction to stop current whaling operations while the court determined the matter, he said.
Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said he would discuss whaling and potential legal action with his Japanese counterpart Katsuya Okada when they meet in Perth on Sunday.
However, he says the meeting will focus mainly on bilateral trade.
"Japan is Australia's second-largest trading partner and export market and (its) third-largest source of foreign investment," Mr Smith said in a statement.
"Despite the global financial crisis, Japanese investment into Australia continues to grow and supports many of our most important industries."
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