The mother of Bunker Bay shark victim Kyle Burden has told a senate inquiry in Perth the former Barnett government failed to implement better strategies following her son's death.
Mr Burden, 21, died at a surf break known as 'The Boneyards' near Dunsborough in 2011 after he was badly mauled by a shark.
![Sharon Burden at her son's memorial with Sea Shepherd activist Jeff Hansen.](http://web.archive.org./web/20170731191453im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/x/k/y/k/5/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gxkymu.png/1501223169848.jpg)
His mother, Dr Sharon Burden, made an emotional testimony to the Senate environment committee's inquiry into shark mitigation strategies at the Duxton Hotel on Friday, claiming there are still no warning signs at the beach where her son was killed six years ago.
"As a simple example, if you go into any workplace you will see warning signs where there are risks..' watch your head', 'watch your step', danger signs about the place," she said.
![Kyle Burden.](http://web.archive.org./web/20170731191453im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/x/k/y/j/u/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gxkymu.png/1501223169848.jpg)
"Yet I was down at Bunker Bay two days before this hearing and there are still no signs that would let any visitor know there has ever been an attack, that there is a risk or there are high-risk times of the year.
"To me when you haven't even done the basics of putting up information signs that inform, not scare, but inform... that is where my immediate frustration comes from... you've done nothing with the basics."
Dr Burden was also critical of the Barnett government for not consulting the families of shark victims when implementing its failed drumlines in 2013.
"When the WA government did act in 2013 it appeared to be with minimal consultation with all stakeholders who might be impacted or have information that should be considered," she said.
"This included the families of victims. I heard about the government response when it was announced to the general public, and like many people, I was extremely disappointed in the poor risk mitigation plan being proposed.
"In the subsequent months my experience was one of increasing frustration as the WA Government showed a high level of unwillingness to consult and look at alternative and more comprehensive strategies, and their disparagement of scientists and other specialists who had evidence that did not support their proposed plan."
Dr Burden, who has a PhD in psychology, slammed The West Australian newspaper for publishing a provocative mocked-up front page image depicting a shark lurking behind young children.
The controversial decision by the state's daily to publish the photoshopped image - seemingly inspired by the Jaws films - came in the wake of two fatal shark attacks off WA mid last year.
The front page - complete with headline asking 'WILL IT TAKE THIS?' - points to a story inside questioning whether drum lines should be deployed to catch sharks or if the metropolitan shark fishery that was closed by Labor in 2007 should be reopened.
Editor Brett McCarthy defended the front page claiming it was about creating a debate.
"I don't think it's about creating fear," he said.
Dr Burden said The West Australian had failed in its "duty of care" by publishing the image.
"You talk about the desire to protect children, yet you put on the front cover of the newspaper that image that you know will be laying around the tables of McDonalds - at a supermarket checkout where a mother might be standing with their children of all ages and at service stations and you don't understand the impact of that?
"In that situation they had no control over what age of children would see that, whether the parents were aware the children would see that and what impact that would have on the child.
"So where was their desire to protect children in that instance and how did that get through?
"I'm thinking I would have not let that through knowing that you have created another potential risk by having that out in an uncontrolled fashion and not knowing who would be able to see it.
"From the mother's side of me, having lived through this it's just heartbreaking."
Dr Burden, who doesn't support the culling of sharks, became overcome with emotion when telling the inquiry how much she and her son loved the ocean and the environment.
"I raised Kyle as a single mother, we swam in thousands of different spots in this amazing country around this coastline," she said.
"So when this happened and it was the environment that killed Kyle, it was a fundamental impact on something we have held as a firm belief all my life and I guess Kyle's life as well.
"But I guess when it happens you say 'if I lose my core beliefs in my despair then you lose a part of yourself' as well as losing that part you lost with your child."