Greens Candidate for Cunningham Jess Whittaker is calling for the permanent removal of shark nets off the beaches of Cunningham.

With the temporary removal of shark nets from our beaches scheduled on Monday 31 March now is the time to close loopholes in the Environment Protection Biodiversity and Conservation Act which allow states to use nets to maim and kill endangered sharks and other species such as loggerhead turtles, dolphins, sharks and other species.

“The death of these animals off our beaches in shark nets is horrible,” Ms Whittaker said. “These nets offer no protection to surfers and swimmers and are having an unacceptable impact on marine species which are critically endangered and federally protected. The Labor Environment Minister has failed in her duty to protect these marine animals.

“If elected, I will immediately call for an end to the exemptions that the states use under the EPBC Act to use shark nets. There are a number of modern-day alternatives including personal deterrent devices, drone spotting programs, public education and rapid trauma responses in the case of shark interactions.

“The federal government has the responsibility of protecting endangered marine wildlife and under the act we should doing just that.

“What we have seen is NSW and Queensland trying to do everything at once without any firm commitment to phasing out nets. This is killing the lovely marine life off the coast of Cunningham and we can stop this.’

Shark nets are fishing devices that marine animals can either swim around or get caught in. They are not an enclosed barrier.  These nets capture and kill marine life indiscriminately, including turtles, dolphins, whales and non-targeted sharks.

Ms Whittaker said: “I believe the states won't remove shark nets until the legislative loophole in the EPBC is closed.

“It is possible to protect people and the environment; we shouldn't be made to choose one or the other. Fundamentally this goes to the heart of our relationship with the ocean, our marine creatures deserve a healthy level of respect for the important role they play in the natural environment. There are certainly ways we can avoid being part of that, but killing them should not be one of them. That's just a really old, outdated way of thinking and I’ll be fighting to change that if elected to federal parliament.

“If people want to see better management of our environment, they need to vote 1 Greens.”

The Greens will:

• Fund $50 million over 10 years to supercharge research and development of non-lethal shark control measures that can replace nets and drum lines
• Provide $5 million to establish a National Sharks Working Group across all states that will look at multiple ways to make ocean goers safer.
• Fund $5m to establish a publicly accessible national database of interactions with shark control measures, critical for research and education/awareness programs
• End Federal exemptions used by the states for lethal shark control measures
• Have the ACCC investigate all existing shark mitigation technologies for efficacy and establish national advertising and product promotion standards