Australia was talking tough on whaling after several high-profile incidents in January - but three months later little action has been taken, a lobbyist says.

Japanese whalers are believed to have used Australian planes to track down anti-whaling protesters on the high seas, allowing the whaling vessels to hunt in peace.

On January 6 Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard criticised the spy flights and said the government was "urgently seeking legal advice".

Ms Gillard said any offences would be prosecuted to "the full force of the law".

Three months later, a government spokesman said investigations were still under way to see if any laws had been broken.

The government also ordered an investigation after futuristic anti-whaling vessel the Ady Gill was holed in a collision with a whaling ship in early January.

That investigation has not been finished either.

Nicola Beynon from the conservation group Humane Society International criticised the lack of progress.

"It shouldn't have taken three months to determine whether or not offences have been committed," Ms Beynon told AAP.

"If offences were committed then the government should be moving on prosecutions by now."

However, Ms Beynon praised the government for continuing to push for an end to whaling, despite growing international support for a compromise deal that would lift the ban on commercial whaling while reducing the number of whales killed.

Source: The Sydney Morning Herald

© 2010 AAP