Honourable Colin Barnett MEc MLA
Premier; Minister for State Development; Science
1 Parliament Place, WEST PERTH WA 6005
wa-government@dpc.wa.gov.au
Dear Premier,
I am sure you have received numerous letters and emails over recent months relating to a range of issues. We as the general public of Western Australia appreciate that at present you have great State responsibilities to manage, coupled with a frantic schedule to fulfil. I expect you probably don’t personally read all the letters you receive, but I truly hope this one reaches your desk, your eyes, your mind and, most importantly, your heart.
I can imagine that in light of the State’s recent introduction of a shark cull you have been on the receiving end of much written and verbal attention from environmentalists, ocean lovers, youth groups, scientific research bodies, nature lovers, wildlife protection societies and so on. I presume there are also those who have expressed their support for the cull. I want to point out at this juncture that I represent none of the above. I mentioned earlier the general public of Western Australia. I suspect that when it comes to this cull you have had to engage extensively with opposite ends of the support spectrum, being the vocal and noble minority who have gone out of their way to vociferously voice their objection to this heinous endeavour, and the possibly naïve and ill-informed minority who have backed you all the way. I am a member of the aforementioned general public and it strikes me as most curious that we, this majority group in the middle of this spectrum, have never really been asked what we think. And I’ll bet my bottom dollar that if we were asked we would lean heavily towards leaving the sharks to do as they are born to do: swim freely in their territory as part of nature’s infinitely old ecological system.
I am from Zimbabwe originally. It is a landlocked country but I was lucky enough to embark on numerous family holidays to the beautiful coast of South Africa where I first encountered the Indian Ocean. It was love at first sight but like most people I never really thought of admirably devoting my entire life to understanding and protecting it. This role seems to be left to the brave few of Sea Shepherd or Greenpeace ilk who take it upon themselves to stand up for those creatures within the world’s oceans who literally themselves cannot. I know you recently visited South Africa where you came upon some of these hardy individuals protesting against the actions of your Administration – I bet that was unexpected. I fell in love a second time when, as a 19-year-old international student, I came to Perth and discovered what Australia really and truly boils down to: a fair go for everyone. Yes, the beaches and forests are stunning, the economy is sound, the lifestyle is as close to perfect as one can come, but it is this enduring idea of everyone having a fair go that is quite simply, secretly and beautifully Australia’s trump card. This attitude is what really opened up my heart. In short, Australia had me at “g’day”.
Fast forward 18 years and not only am I now a resident of Perth, but I am a proud citizen of this great nation as of January 26th, 2014. My interesting job involves promotion of a Western Australian education to an overseas audience and I do it with immense pride. But for the first time since arriving on these shores I am ashamed. I’ve been Australian for barely three months, and I am ashamed. I am neither an environmentalist nor a scientist, but I am ashamed. I love City Beach and frequent it often, yet I am ashamed when I step foot on it. What we – and I say ‘we’ because we’re sadly in this together now thanks to your Administration – are doing to the sharks of the great oceans that surround us is nothing short of criminal, murderous, ignorant and bloody primitive. It is a witch-hunt, the likes of which would not be out of place in the dark ages. Where is our compassion? Where is our humanity? Where, more than anything, is the opportunity for US to decide what to do with OUR oceans? The sharks and we both deserve a fair go at deciding their fate. Frankly, we don’t really even have the right to decide their fate, but seeing as they aren’t about to breach our shores and conduct media interviews, it falls in the lap of the very few who take the time to speak out to do just that – speak out. The State has in the past spent a fortune on asking us whether we wish to push the clocks back in winter and yet cannot be bothered to even launch a free online survey to see what we think. Go ahead and ignore us if you like, but at least ask us. You owe it to us.
Premier, it is a well-known fact that the creature responsible for most animal-inflicted injuries and deaths in Australia is of the equine variety. Where is the cull of horses? Would it help if they had large, sharp and replaceable teeth that came about through plain old evolution? Would it help if Hollywood persistently cast them as villains? Would it help if we couldn’t see them underneath us? Where are the drum lines in paddocks? Why do we have these ridiculous double standards? The hippopotamus and the buffalo are near the top of the list of most dangerous animals in Africa. Where are the snares and the trucks carrying around people whose job it is to shoot the ensnared? The great white shark was declared vulnerable by the Australian Government in 1999 and its numbers are yet to recover. However, your Administration has declared it fair game. Is it a surprise to you to learn that the ocean is their domain? Once we step foot in it we literally step out of continental Australia and into the wild ocean. Where is the cull of jellyfish or of stingrays? In fact, if ocean-dwelling creatures could walk and talk do you think there’d be something equivalent to drum lines on the beach to stop us going in?
Forgive my emotion. I want to close by mentioning another great injustice. The grey nurse shark became critically endangered in Australia in the 1970s as a result of increased hunting. It is now 2014 and, despite your Administration spending millions of our dollars on exterminating sharks as if they were rats, ignoring the wishes of the majority, scientists in Australia are still, decades later, working on miniscule budgets to regrow the numbers of this amazing species of shark. How is that even remotely fair? Premier, on average over the last fifty years there has been a single death each year in Australia from a shark attack (source: the Australian Shark Attack File). Statistically, a person has more chance of dying from a vending machine accident. I’ll wager that the vast majority of shark attack victims understand the risk and wholeheartedly disagree with your Administration's knee-jerk reaction.
I am now eligible to vote but sharks are not. Politics shouldn’t even be a part of this, yet I have had to resort to writing to the Premier of my State about something that should never have been their responsibility in the first place. I hope you have taken the time to digest my comments. I have shared them with as many friends as I can communicate with around the world, as well as the West Australian and Sunday Times. You needn’t reply to me. What you need to do is reply to everyone and, most importantly, reply to the sharks. Tell them why. Tell us why. Ask them and us for permission. Or better still, stop and ask all of us for forgiveness.
Yours sincerely,
Michael Ingram
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