Acting Prime Minister Julia Gillard has asked the
Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) to conduct its own investigation and says the results will be made public once it is completed.
She says the Government reserves the right to take international legal action if diplomacy with Japanese officials fails, and has warned that evidence has already been collected to launch such action.
But she says the Government will not be sending a boat to monitor the situation in Antarctic waters at this stage.
Ms Gillard says she has watched video of the crash, where the 52-metre Shonan Maru 2 shears the bow off the Sea Shepherd's futuristic Ady Gil speedboat.
"It is
"Having watched the video it deeply concerns me. It seems miraculous that lives were not lost."
Ms Gillard says if the situation is not resolved diplomatically legal action may need to be considered.
"I am calling for calm heads, calm judgement and a greater understanding of the facts," she said.
"We are strenuously opposed to whaling and strenuously opposed to violence at sea."
Ms Gillard says the collision took place within Australia's search and rescue zone, but outside its economic zone.
She says she has been
Metal halide lamp advised New Zealand authorities will hold an
investigation into the incident, with AMSA's assistance.
An anti-whaling protester's ribs were broken when the Shonan Maru 2 slammed into the hull of the Ady Gill.
Ms Gillard said the vessel's crew was made up of one Dutch national and five New Zealand nationals, one of whom has dual Australian-New Zealand citizenship.
Japanese whalers say their ship was trying to take evasive action when the incident happened, and say whaling ships had been under "continuous attack" from the Ady Gil and another Sea Shepherd vessel in the hours leading up to the collision.
But Sea Shepherd deputy chief executive Chuck Swift says the crash was a deliberate attack.
"As far as I'm concerned this was at least criminal assault, if not attempted murder," he said.
But Ernest van Buuren, a maritime law expert and the deputy federal master of the Company of Master Mariners Australia, says criminal charges are unlikely.
He says there is a crimes at sea act that could apply, but it is more likely it will be a matter for investigation that will ultimately only involve insurance companies.
He says initially it seems that the Shonan Maru 2 is at fault.
"The Shonan Maru 2 should be giving way to the Ady Gill because it's on the starboard side and what seems to be the allegation of the Shonan Maru 2 is that the Ady Gill failed to keep its course and speed, it was varying its speed," he said.
"There is responsibility on the Shonan Maru to give way, but also responsibility from the Ady Gill to maintain its course and speed."
He says the Federal
Metal halide lamp Government is right to call for calm
in the Southern Ocean and an investigation is vital to determine if safety issues need to be addressed.
"I would have thought this is clearly a matter of international concern and something that would be of interest to everyone."
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