Wasn't Australia lucky that Whaling In The Antarctic (Australia V. Japan: New Zealand Intervening) was already before the International Court of Justice by the time Tony Abbott became prime minister

This was Tony Abbott reported in The Age on 12 January 2010:

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott says a Coalition government would not take international legal action against Japanese whaling…

While the Coalition would like Japan to stop whaling, ''we don't want to needlessly antagonise our most important trading partner, a fellow democracy, an ally'', he said.

''There are limits to what you can reasonably do, and taking war-like action against Japan is not something that a sensible Australian politician ought to recommend.''…

This is the victory for whale conservation in the Southern Ocean that the former Federal Labor Government bequeathed Australia:

WHALING IN THE ANTARCTIC (AUSTRALIA v. JAPAN: NEW ZEALAND INTERVENING) 31 March 2014 Judgment

Further information here.