NSW wades into shark war with drumline offer to WA

THE NSW Government will wade into the shark war that has erupted between the nation’s capital and Western Australia by offering to loan the WA Government SMART drumlines following a spate of attacks.

Primary Industries Minister Niall Blair will today give the WA Government the option of borrowing five non-lethal SMART drumlines free of charge despite WA’s reluctance to take up the cuttingedge technology.

It comes after Environment Minister Josh Frydenberg acwith cused WA Fisheries Minister Dave Kelly of misleading the public on the drumlines by suggesting the devices did not improve safety.

Mr Blair said it was time to “quit the talk and just get on looking at ways to protect beachgoers”. “I just don’t understand how you can argue against trialling something new – it’s 2018 and the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result so maybe they don’t have the courage,” he said.

Last week, Mr Kelly said there were “double” the number of shark attacks in NSW compared with WA over the past five years despite the use of SMART drumlines – a claim the NSW Government has refuted.