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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 02 Hansard (Wednesday, 3 March 2004) . . Page.. 692 ..

of Forde and Bonner to be contained within the boundary of the home property at all times, either indoors or in a constructed cat run.

The policy of containment of cats could be implemented largely through existing legislation under the Domestic Animals Act 2000. However, an amendment to this act to include infringement notice of penalties will be necessary to enable the policy to be enforced. Monitoring of compliance will be essential to ensure the protection of wildlife and will need to be jointly managed by Canberra Urban Parks and Places, Domestic Animal Services and Environment ACT.

The government is committed to this policy of confinement of cats to premises for the protection of our flora and fauna in significant nature conservation areas, such as Mulligans Flat and Gooroo. We think the best approach to adopt today is confinement to premises. I acknowledge that in some senses a complete ban may have a more dramatic impact, but we do not know that absolutely. It is information we do not have on the basis of evidence. I am sorry that I did not have a greater opportunity to discuss these issues with Mrs Dunne. I have some sympathy for what she is seeking to achieve, but the government will proceed with its proposed amendment today, which I now foreshadow.

MS DUNDAS (5.36): Mr Deputy Speaker, I was intending to support the motion as moved by Ms Tucker. I am supportive of the intent of what she is trying to do today, but I would then say that a requirement to keep cats in enclosures in Forde and Bonner would be better than no restrictions on cat ownership at all. If that is necessary, I am happy to support the amendment put forward by the Chief Minister. Cat-free areas are not a new proposal. They have been implemented in a number of subdivisions in the Yarrowlumla and Tallaganda shires, on Magnetic Island in Queensland and in the area around Byron Bay in New South Wales.

It needs to be made clear that this motion is not to seek a ban on cat ownership across Canberra. The objective is to protect sensitive fauna in the Mulligans Flat Nature Reserve and the Gooroo woodland complex against the impact of free-running domestic cats. Both Australian and overseas studies have shown that free-running domestic cats prey on a wide range of native fauna and can significantly suppress populations of birds, mammals and reptiles. The effect on species with small populations, such as threatened fauna, can be especially severe. We have threatened bird species in the Mulligans Flat and Gooroo woodland areas. Failing to take action to protect these vulnerable species would be a dereliction of our duty to future generations of Canberrans and to the ecology of our area.

I note the view of the government’s Animal Welfare Advisory Committee that the impact of domestic cats on wildlife has been overstated. I disagree with this proposition. From personal experience I have seen that cats do have a serious impact on native bird populations and other small native species. I do not think we can take the argument that cats are okay in terms of their impact on wildlife. They do have a serious impact, and we need to have a way of limiting that impact to allow native flora and fauna to prosper.

Cats generally have the greatest impact on native fauna where urban areas adjoin nature reserves because cats tend to have a fairly limited home range. These areas are also likely to be the subject of greater environmental stress due to various factors, including higher levels of human visitation. Extinction is all too often the death of a thousand cuts,

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