news, act-politics

An Opposition bill that would force all dogs under investigation to be impounded would lead to the ACT's Domestic Animal Shelter being overrun, the Barr government has warned. Canberra Liberals urban services spokeswoman Nicole Lawder will introduce a final version of a bill to toughen up the ACT's dog laws on Wednesday. Ms Lawder tabled an exposure draft of the legislation last month, and it's unclear what, if any, changes there are in the final bill. But City Services Minister Chris Steel said the bill removes discretion from current laws, and dogs could be euthanised for killing any animal kept on a premise, including a chicken or a mouse. It would also remove a provision to destroy dogs that attacked livestock or native wildlife. "The Liberals have drafted a deliberately cruel piece of legislation that is out of step with community values. Many of the elements of the proposed legislation were already rejected last year by the Assembly," Mr Steel said. Ms Lawder's bill would also require a dog under investigation to be impounded until that inquiry was complete. In 2017-18, there were 485 dog attacks and 213 seizures, answers to an Opposition question on notice show. Every dog attack requires an investigation and formal report within 28 days. Dogs can also be investigated for menacing or harassment, meaning the number of investigation per year can be much higher. Mr Steel said there wasn't enough room in the existing animal shelters to house all of the dogs that would be impounded under these changes. "There were over 500 reported incidents so far this calendar year, and under Ms Lawder’s legislation it is likely that every one of these would lead to the seizure of a dog. For example if a Jack Russell jumped up on a person or even killed a small lizard on a footpath, this dog would have to be seized," he said. "We estimate over a year it would be around 1000 dogs per year that would need to be seized under Ms Lawder’s bill. In general it takes around 28 days to complete investigation - the accommodation requirements for this many dogs would mean the need to build a warehouse." But Ms Lawder dismissed Mr Steel's concerns, saying the bill addressed an important public safety and animal welfare issue. "The intent of the bill is to protect Canberrans and their pets by keeping dangerous dogs off our streets and out of our suburbs. In that regard, ‘domestic animals’ is defined as cats, dogs and other pets held on a premise, in the care of Canberrans," she said. “What we need to do, is take dangerous dogs off the street. The government has to ensure that the right mechanisms are in place. We should not avoid taking action on this issue because of concerns about administrative process.” However Mr Steel said he was confident the bipartisan dangerous dog law reforms passed last year were working, with a significant increase in dogs impounded and three times as many dogs destroyed as the previous year. "The government recently undertook an independent expert review into dog management and has released a response outlining the measures it is considering to improve community safety," Mr Steel said. "The examples around the world demonstrate that the best way to increase safety is through responsible pet ownership, not through cruel responses to individual incidents. "Work is actively underway on supporting responsible pet ownership in Canberra through the Paws for Thought campaign, data collection through a pet census or potentially through a more regular approach to pet registration."

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