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

There is certainly only one Senator Malcolm Roberts!

So far this season in Queensland, we've seen 12 federally protected humpback whales entangled in shark nets. Twelve federally protected whales were tangled in shark nets in Queensland. It's not just whales. These shark nets, run by the New South Wales government and the Queensland government, are indiscriminate killers and weapons of mass destruction for protected and endangered marine life. It's estimated that, in the New South Wales so-called shark protection program, up to 20,000 marine animals have been killed—hundreds every year: whales, dolphins, turtles, stingrays, protected sharks—and in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park alone, where recently a court case forced the Queensland government to take out shark nets and lethal drum-lines, it was estimated that over 80,000 marine animals, many of them federally protected species, have been killed in these shark nets. This is a federal issue for which we have federal responsibility. So why are we shirking responsibility on this issue to protect our marine life?

Five years ago this chamber, this Senate, delivered the world's first parliamentary inquiry into getting the balance right between protecting human life and protecting marine life. The environment and communications committee went right around this country; it took hundreds of submissions and evidence from many submitters, and delivered a comprehensive report. This Senate delivered a comprehensive report to reform the shark control programs around this country—all based on evidence, all based on science.

And yet, five years later, we still haven't had a response to that Senate inquiry's report. The previous government refused to come into this chamber, into the Australian Senate, and release their response to that inquiry. Even though we asked the department at Senate estimates if they'd prepared a response for the minister—they confirmed they had; it was sitting on the minister's desk—the government deliberately chose not to respond to that Senate report and recommendations—which, may I say, had tripartisan support across the political spectrum to phase-out lethal shark nets in New South Wales and Queensland. The report asked the federal government to step up and show leadership on this issue.

Now, I'm a surfer and I'm also a senator. I have deeply lived and experienced this issue. I, as chair of that committee, totally understand that the issue around shark control, shark mitigation, is a deeply emotional issue, and one of the key emotions it elicits is fear. That's why it was really important that the Senate looked at the policy and looked at the evidence. And I can tell you, Senators, there was no evidence that these shark nets reduce populations of sharks. These are fisheries controlled devices; they are devices designed to kill marine life. That's it, that's 100 per cent their policy purpose. They're not nets or barriers to stop sharks, or dangerous sharks, from entering beaches, they are simply designed to reduce populations of sharks. These nets do not work to make our beaches safe. By any reasonable measure they have failed as a policy prescription in Australia.

We have seen multiple bites by sharks inside shark nets or beaches that are netted. Unfortunately, we've seen sad fatalities, including only last year, up in Queensland, when a surfer was bitten inside a shark net. These shark nets do not work to protect humans, but we know they work very well killing marine life and endangering whales and so much of the marine life that Australians love.

It's long overdue for the federal government to step in and take responsibility on this issue and protects species which, under federal law. are designed to be protected. There is no reason for the New South Wales government or the Queensland government to continue these lethal shark control programs that don't make our beaches safe, but do endanger and kill protected marine life.

The only reason these shark control programs have not been removed is because politicians in New South Wales and Queensland simply won't look at the evidence and they have no courage. They are not brave enough to remove these shark nets. It's that simple. I am very proud that this Senate delivered such a comprehensive report, the world's first into this issue, and I call on the new Labor government to not do what the Liberal government did, but to respond to the Senate report. Let's hear what you've got to say about the role the federal government has to play in finding a better balance between keeping ocean goers safe and protecting our precious marine life.