Page 1448 - Week 05 - Thursday, 13 May 2021
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the Domestic Animals Legislation Amendment Bill today. This bill strengthens responsible dog ownership in the ACT and is the next step towards our government’s goal of creating a safer, more pet-friendly community. Canberrans should aspire to have world best practice for the management of dogs, and the best way to deliver a safer community and one that prioritises the welfare of dogs is to ensure that responsible pet ownership is ingrained in our approach.
This bill gives effect to commitments the government has made in recent years about developing an annual dog registration framework. Annual registration will ensure that we have up-to-date information on dogs so that we can better understand how many are living in the ACT and pinpoint where they are and who owns them. We are supporting this requirement with a new digital dog database so that owners can quickly and easily update their details once a year at no additional cost.
This new approach will address the challenges that we currently face with lifetime registration, as owners rarely tell the government when they change addresses or phone numbers, transfer their dogs’ ownership to someone else or their pets pass away. This can be a particular problem when dog attacks unfortunately happen or there is concern about dangerous dogs.
The main benefit to dog owners in updating their details annually is that it will ensure Domestic Animals Services can return lost dogs to them as quickly as possible. The digital dog database will also provide a platform to educate and regularly communicate with dog owners on their responsibilities and how to keep their dogs safe and happy.
The amendments proposed in the bill provide a simple and effective legislative framework to pave the way for this approach from 1 July 2021. The process for dog owners will be simple: at least 14 days out from the registration’s 12-month period ending, the owner will receive an email and/or text explaining when registration lapses; what the owner needs to do to renew registration; and the penalty that will apply for not updating their dog’s details by the date the current registration ends.
We acknowledge that not all Canberrans have a mobile or an email, so hard copy letters will also be sent to ensure that we are reaching all dog owners in the community. Owners will receive a reminder notice at 28 days, followed by a second reminder seven days from the registration ending if the registration has not already been renewed. This allows plenty of time for people to act and ensures that the task of keeping track of the registration sits with the ACT government and not pet owners.
Importantly, there will be no additional cost to the existing one-off registration fee, despite a scare campaign from the Canberra Liberals. At the moment, Canberrans pay a one-off fee to register a dog. Going forward, Canberrans will continue to pay only a one-off fee to register a dog. The only change is that dog owners will now be required to jump online and quickly confirm or update those registration details once a year.
The system will be simple to use. Where the owner’s information has not changed, they can simply access the secure online platform through the links provided in the notice and tick a box to confirm that the details are still accurate. This will
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