Peter Whish-Wilson (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

Sharks are apex predators, and healthy shark populations are essential to healthy oceans, so it was with great alarm that I recently read that new genetic tests of great white shark populations, a species that is protected under state and federal laws, tell us that only 500 adult great white sharks are left around our nation. It's with significant concern that I've learned, from speaking to scientists in South Australia, that this toxic algal bloom has seen not only thousands of dead marine creatures wash up on the beach but also nearly eight adult great white sharks. The scientists tell me that is probably just the tip of the iceberg as to how many have been impacted by this toxic algal bloom.

Another significant source of concern is the fact that state governments like the New South Wales government and the Queensland government still refuse to remove barbaric, last-century shark nets. Shark nets are designed to catch and kill sharks and reduce shark populations, including great white sharks. They don't protect our beaches—surfers have been killed inside shark nets by sharks—they are simply there to protect politicians. It is good that the New South Wales government is at least moving to trial removing shark nets from selected locations, but at a time in history when our shark populations are under so much pressure, we need to do a lot better.

It might surprise knuckle-draggers like Ray Hadley at the 'Daily Terror-graph' in Sydney, that I am a surfer. I spend a lot of my time in the ocean surfing and diving. I've been out to the Neptune Islands on a scientific expedition and dived with great white sharks, and there are many surfers and ocean-lovers—in fact most surfers and ocean-lovers—who want to see sharks, as well as people, protected through better technology. (Time expired)