New Zealand Foreign Minister Murray McCully said on Monday that the New Zealand government wanted whaling in the Southern Ocean eliminated and he thought the best way of getting substantial reductions was through the diplomatic process.

"There is no mandate for the New Zealanders who are participating in the discussion to do any deal whatsoever. The only mandate they have is to see if they can find a diplomatic solution that the New Zealand Government and then the New Zealand people can consider," Radio New Zealand quoted him as saying on Monday.

"If there is a suggestion of a diplomatic solution we will obviously tell New Zealanders what's on the table and seek their views. If it's something that's worth thinking about it will involve some difficult decisions because it would involve obviously accepting a reduced amount of whaling for a period of time rather than an immediate elimination that's always been the nature of that discussion," he added.

The reduction would have to be significant, he said.

New Zealand International Whaling Commission (IWC) representative Sir Geoffrey Palmer said New Zealand and Australia had the same aims and it would be "enormous progress" to remove the scientific whaling loophole.

The compromise would bring scientific whaling under the control of the IWC, requiring Japan to submit DNA samples and other data to the 88-nation body.

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has repeated his threat to take Japan to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) if a diplomatic solution is not reached.

Talks in the United States over the weekend of International Whaling Commission nations failed to agree on a compromise proposal.

Australia wants whaling to be phased out in five years but New Zealand is among those seeking a compromise.