Page 5969 - Week 18 - Wednesday, 11 December 1991
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I wonder whether the Minister could make use of the provisions of the gazettal to provide for a three-month amnesty, backed by a publicity campaign, in an attempt to encourage more people to register their dogs. That is a suggestion that the Minister may wish to consider.
Let me now turn to the issue of licence fees for keepers, as defined in the new Part IIA. I wonder whether the Minister could, during his remarks, provide a hint as to what he considers will be a suitable fee, and whether those with keepers licences are going to be required to pay the licence fee per dog as well. For example, a keeper has to pay, say, $50 to obtain a keepers licence and may have four dogs over three months - not an unreasonable number for a person who is involved in breeding dogs and bitches. If the licence fee is, say, $6 for each dog or bitch, we are looking at a charge of some $74 per annum. I wonder whether the Minister could indicate that, because the dog community, particularly those kennel club owners who are involved in the breeding of dogs in the ACT, are interested in that response.
I am not sure, however, whether we are going to get very many more dogs registered or many more people seeking a keepers licence. The limited number of officers available for enforcement in respect of this type of offence will no doubt depend on complaints being lodged, as the dog inspectors will probably be too busy on general dog control issues to control the large number of dogs that, unfortunately, will probably still be allowed to roam by irresponsible owners. However, I am pleased to see that the penalties have been increased. Hopefully, once that starts to bite, people will start to take greater control over their animals.
The issue of keepers licences does involve some problems, I would suggest, for the many owners who would seek to breed dogs without a keepers licence, especially dogs that have been known to cause problems. Unless they manage to keep the number of dogs below the specified number and within the three months age exception, I believe that we have a potential for some problems in that area. In some respects, this provision will probably affect only the owners of registered breeding names with a kennel association, be they State or national.
The owners of pure breed dogs could argue that they will be discriminated against as owners of dogs which are being bred from, let us say, for example, a bull terrier and a Rhodesian ridgeback or some similar dog which is being used as a hunting dog outside the ACT, particularly for pigs. These are the sorts of dog breeds, the crosses, that are used in this area, and I think we run the risk somehow of not being able to control these sorts of breeds, even with the licence for a keeper.
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