Australian Federal Environment Minister Peter Garrett vowed on September 1 to lobby the new Japanese government on whale hunting.
"We will continue to put our views strongly on that whaling issue," he told reporters in Canberra.
"No one will be under any apprehension about the strong feelings that Australia has but it's early days in this relationship," he said.
Japanese voters made history at the weekend when they ended more than 50 years of almost unbroken conservative rule, opting for the center-left Democratic party.
The power shift has led to speculation that Japan might reconsider its annual summer whale hunt in Antarctic waters, where hundreds of whales are killed for "scientific" purposes.
The defeated Liberal Democratic Party government strongly defended Japan's right to hunt whales in the interests of research and maintaining a cultural tradition.
Garrett would not be drawn on whether he thought the new government would be more open to ending whaling.
"It's very early days with the election of the new government in Japan."
