Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .

Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 02 Hansard (Wednesday, 3 March 2004) . . Page.. 686 ..

MRS CROSS: in order to protect threatened wildlife in nearby nature reserves. Cats can be very efficient hunters and, given the opportunity, severely damage and destroy sensitive native fauna. A number of control options have been aired for consideration. To save vulnerable wildlife we must control predatory cats and we should go about it seriously; half measures in such endeavours are usually half successful. I would therefore like to see the Assembly opt for the strictest measure: to make the Forde and Bonner suburbs cat free. Only then will we be able to say that we did our best to maintain a diverse population of nature’s creatures to help delight others in the future. I commend Ms Tucker on her motion and will be supporting it accordingly.

MRS DUNNE (5.09): I am rising to address Ms Tucker’s motion. I thank her for bringing it on, because it is an important issue, but I do so with some ambivalence. The ambivalence is manifest in the amendments, which are circulated in my name and which I shall move later on.

Cats are interesting: you either love them or you hate them. We used to own a cat. He was big, grey and furry. He was great but, like all cats—they are not like dogs; you own dogs but cats own you—there was very limited scope for control. We eventually had to let our cat go. He went to a nice home because we discovered that our children were allergic to all the major pet groups, which has been a great blessing ever since.

But for about 25 per cent of the population cats are very important companion animals, and they are especially important for the growing number of elderly in our community. The issue of cats in the community is a very sensitive one. If you are out doorknocking, you hear people say, “What are we going to about the little birds? The cats wander around the place. People should be more responsible with their cats.” Most people are responsible with their cats, but there are still a lot of cats that wander. Belling a cat is not sufficient: a belled cat can still catch a bird, lizard or anything else.

There seems to be agreement about what we want to achieve here. There seems to be a general consensus that we want to protect fauna in a very important nature reserve. This is about means, and there is a view about that there is more than one way—no, I can’t say that. I can’t say there’s more than one way to skin a cat. It would be too crass.

Cats, both feral and domestic, have a significant impact on wildlife in areas like Mulligans Flat and the Gooroo reserve. In that area, a number of vulnerable and endangered species are low storey and ground dwelling, like the hooded robin and the brown treecreeper, as well as a number of reptiles, including shinglebacks. My children are not allergic to shinglebacks, so we should be nice to them.

This is a debate about means. There are a number of techniques that we could use: cat-free zones, curfews and large-scale cat enclosures. Given the topography, there is no point excluding cats from Forde and Bonner and then allowing them in Throsby. We have to be quite clear that, if we are talking about some sort of measure to limit cats in Forde and Bonner, we have to be prepared to do it in Throsby. Forde and Bonner are on the western side of Mulligans Flat, and Throsby is a pincer on the eastern side of Mulligans Flat. We are making decisions about not just the current land release but land release for many years to come.

Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .