7. Ross O’Donoghue to Colin Barnett, Parliament House, Perth, Western Australia. Tuesday, 11 March 2014 Re: 2015 Swim 4 Sharks (that can’t)- Group Training Sessions, Trigg’s Beach, from now until Saturday 21st February, 2015. Please be advised that the next group training session for the 2015 Swim 4 Sharks (that can’t) will be conducted on Saturday 8th March at 0800 hrs and as otherwise indicated in my earlier advices to you We will be leaving from the beach directly in front of the Trigg’s Island Surf Lifesaving Club main lookout tower at 0800hrs, proceeding in a WESTERLY direction for a distance of one (1) nautical mile, then returning to shore. In view of your Government’s current policy of baited hooks at Perth metropolitan beaches to attract, catch and slaughter sharks, you have a legal obligation to meet your associated responsibilities by taking the necessary measures to address any safety issues or increased risk to the personal safety of those involved, that have come into existence as a consequence of your actions. Disappointingly, you did not even afford me the basic courtesy of responding to my most recent advice to you, regarding the last group training session of Saturday 8th March 2014, in which I sought your assurance that you would take whatever measures necessary to mitigate the extra risk to the personal safety of swimmers and their support craft personnel. You, and the government that you represent , is responsible for transforming a safe, pristine, unpolluted environment into an extremely dangerous and hazardous area for the general public, and, in particular, people that choose to participate in long distance Ocean swimming events in off shore coastal waters at our local Perth metropolitan beaches. Once again, I ask you to advise me, prior to the next training session, what measures you will ensure are deployed / implemented for the next training session of Saturday 15th March, 2015, to mitigate the increased risk to swimmers and their support teams, of which you and the government are liable for. Also, I participated in the first Swim 4 Sharks( that can’t), conducted on Saturday 22 February, 2014, as advised to you in my email of 20th February, 2014. During the course of this event I suffered personal injury as a consequence of the shark fishing equipment that has been set off shore from Trigg’s Island. I also believe that the conduct of the Fisheries Department vessel that was also at my location was negligent and further put the safety of myself and other swimmers at even greater risks. Fisheries Officers re-baited the hooks on both drum lines with fresh baits while I was in the vicinity. The vessel involved also came close to colliding with me on two occasions. Be assured, I will be taking this second matter further and you will be hearing from me regarding this in the very near future. Ross O’Donoghue.
Posted on: Wed, 12 Mar 2014 05:23:10 +0000
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