Sydney shark attack prompts review of drone rules over Coogee Beach

Sydney authorities moved to review drone restrictions over Coogee Beach after a shark attack left a 35-year-old woman critically injured just 30 metres from shore. The bite came around 11:15 a.m. on June 13 while she was swimming between the flags, and lifeguards and beachgoers rushed in as emergency crews closed Coogee and other eastern suburbs beaches for 24 hours. Lifeguard Charlie Verco was among the first to reach her.

Randwick City Council shut Coogee, Clovelly, Maroubra and other ocean beaches under its control, while Waverley Council closed Bondi, Bronte and Tamarama as a precaution. Officials said the animal was believed to be a 3-to-4-metre shark. By Sunday, the woman was at St Vincent’s Hospital in critical but stable condition with serious injuries to her lower left leg and arms.

The policy fight now running through New South Wales is whether drones should be treated as a routine public-safety tool or kept on a shorter leash because of privacy, noise and aviation rules. Coogee sits under the flight path of Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport, which is why the Civil Aviation Safety Authority had restricted drone use there. After the attack, regulators temporarily lifted that ban so crews could scan for sharks, showing how quickly the calculus changes when swimmers are in the water and time matters.

Tara Moriarty, the state agriculture minister, called it “a really tough summer of shark activity and shark attacks in Sydney,” and the state has already been expanding its monitoring system. The NSW Shark Management Program added $6.7 million for 2025/26, extending shark surveillance drones to 80 beaches and adding shark listening stations, community shark bite kits, and more drone training and deployment. Earlier in 2026, the government also announced 60 new drones and 125 trained volunteer pilots.

That expansion points to the real limit of the debate. Drones can help spot sharks near crowded surf breaks, direct lifeguards and speed beach clearances, but they are not a guarantee against an attack already unfolding close to shore. The Coogee case has sharpened the tradeoff between keeping popular beaches open and using every available warning system to reduce the next risk.