Mehreen Faruqi (NSW, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

My question is to Minister Watt. Minister, on Tuesday we woke up to distressing images of a humpback whale, a species protected under federal and state laws, killed in a shark net off the coast of New South Wales. Whales, dolphins, rays, turtles, dugongs and endangered shark species are getting entangled almost daily in New South Wales and Queensland by these indiscriminate nets of death. While the shark net was killing that whale in New South Wales, dozens of bull sharks were feeding in the shallows at Snapper Rocks in Queensland inside the shark nets and drum lines. This irony proves again that shark nets are not a safety barrier. Minister, have you seen these awful images, and what have you got to say to Australians and indeed many around the world who are distressed and angry at this state-sanctioned animal cruelty?