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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 9 Hansard (7 September) . . Page.. 2955 ..

MR SMYTH (continuing):

SCAMP includes the Domestic Animals Bill 2000. A number of measure contained in the original exposure draft have been modified, and I will now address these areas. The registration system for dogs has been overhauled to increase compliance rates. Steps to achieve this include the registration of puppies at an earlier age and changes to the current registration fee structure. Upon the implementation of this bill, it will be compulsory but free to register a puppy at eight weeks of age. This change has allowed the government to address legitimate concerns from both the pet industry and dog breeders, as the initial registration will have no associated charge.

The bill introduces a new requirement to identify cats and dogs by various means, including microchipping. This measure will ensure the timely notification and/or return of an animal to its rightful owner should it be lost. Any dog or cat born or acquired after the commencement of the act is to be desexed unless the owner has applied for, and been granted, a permit to keep their pet sexually entire. This action will ensure a reduction in the number of unwanted animals that are euthanased annually at veterinary practices, shelters and the ACT government pound.

A new scheme has been incorporated to address serious issues with animal nuisance. Changes have been made to provide inspectors the power to issue abatement notices to keepers of animals causing nuisance and to make a failure to comply with an abatement notice an offence.

In line with the recommendations from the ACT urban cat management strategy, a power for the minister to declare a cat curfew in areas where cats pose a conservation threat to native species has been incorporated into the bill. This action will ensure that any possible future threat to native species by cat predation will be able to be effectively addressed.

Amendments have also been made to provisions relating to dangerous dogs. Accordingly, the registrar will now have the ability to issue a dangerous dog licence, subject to both the dog and the keeper completing an approved obedience or behavioural modification course. In addition, the registrar will have the ability to sell a declared dangerous dog to a member of the general public if that member is prepared to apply for a dangerous dog licence and comply with any additional conditions placed on that licence.

Amendments have been made to the requirements for people to remove any droppings deposited by their dog in a public place or in a stormwater drain or channel, whether on public or private land. People with the responsibility for walking a dog outside the boundaries of its usual enclosure will be required to carry packaging, such as a plastic bag, suitable for the hygienic disposal of any faeces dropped by the dog. These packages can be disposed of at any authorised rubbish bin. Additional bins will be installed in popular dog exercise areas once it has been established that sufficient need exists.

In order to address concerns by residents of Canberra, I am also pleased to announce that by the time this legislation is debated appropriate dog exercise areas will have been gazetted in Gungahlin. My department advise that these exercise areas will be in place by the middle of October this year.

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