‘It's so wrong’: Tony Abbott urges return of shark culling following NSW attack

[00:00:00]Meantime, the New South Wales government will not rule out the reintroduction of shark culling after a woman was seriously injured in a shark attack over the weekend. Krista Wu joins us. Some are calling for shark culling, even a return to commercial fishing. Everything seems like it's on the table here.

[00:00:19]>> Yeah, it sure is, Laura. Liberal Party President Tony Abbott has called for the return of commercial shark fishing, and it's not the first time he's spoken out about uh in the aftermath of shark attacks. The latest incident happened on Saturday. A woman in her 30s was swimming at Coogee Beach at Sydney's eastern suburbs when she was mauled by a shark. She was swimming in between the flags, just 20 to 30 m away from the shore when she was bitten in the arm and the leg. She was taken to hospital in a critical condition. Now, members of the public witnessed the who witnessed the incident said they they saw that the pool of blood in the water. They said it was unlike anything they'd ever seen before.

[00:01:04]>> As per the latest news about a woman fighting for her life after a shark attack at Coogee Beach.

[00:01:10]It's so wrong that we don't cull sharks after attacks.

[00:01:16]It's so wrong that we don't have a commercial shark fishery given [music] the explosion in shark numbers, and it's so wrong that we don't put people before sharks.

[00:01:29]>> The state government says it won't rule out the return of shark culling, but says it wants to use technology first.

[00:01:36]We know at that time there weren't any drones up in the air, and that shark had not been monitored um just before midday on Saturday.

[00:01:47]>> Uh they haven't been able to fly the drones over Coogee Beach. Uh but of course, sharks don't move into one beach uh at a time or at a day. So, they can be tracked from other beaches. We prefer to use technology. The nets will will go back in on the 1st of September. I'm looking to expand the drone program to have eyes in the sky over our beaches.

[00:02:05]That is the priority, but nothing else is off the table.

[00:02:09]>> We need to put humans ahead of sharks, and nothing should be off the table.

[00:02:13]What fishermen have been calling for is a return to fishing of species like bull sharks. Perhaps that's something we should be looking at.

[00:02:24]>> The state government was going to conduct a shark net removal trial, but that has been paused after a series of shark attacks that's happened over the past year. Back in January, there were four shark attacks in the space of 48 hours alone. That incident making international headlines, Laura.

[00:02:45]>> Crystal, thank you.