Page 440 - Week 03 - Tuesday, 13 March 2007
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DR FOSKEY: What have you been saying about me in my absence?
MR HARGREAVES: You can read the Hansard, if you like. I will get a copy of it for you but if you like I will go over it again.
MR DEPUTY SPEAKER: Relevance, minister.
MR HARGREAVES: For the benefit of Dr Foskey—through you, Mr Deputy Speaker—I was relating the story of how this little orange cat came to be living in my house. Dr Foskey talked about fish and oxygen in fish bowls. I recall going up to the hill between Wanniassa and Farrer. Mr Mulcahy knows the place I am talking about—it is a beautiful bit of territory in the Wanniassa hills. When I went up there on one of my walks I discovered that some fish were flapping around in one of the dams from which the water had been receding at a rapid rate of knots. There was nothing I could do for the massive great carp that were sitting in there but my wife and I rescued three of the smaller fish, took them home and stuck them a big pot. We oxygenated the water and made sure it was changed, because even if they did not have the memory or the artistic appreciation of goldfish, they were still entitled to a high quality of life. This is what they will continue to have as long as we do not go fishing for them in my pond.
Mr Deputy Speaker, Dr Foskey referred to fire recovery. In about 1996-1997, I was involved in developing a disaster recovery plan and the creation of recovery centres. You might remember that the recovery centre at Lyons came out of the training that we received back in 1996-1997. We received training from the emergency management group out of Mount Macedon. They said, “Just remember, you must make provision for animals in those recovery centres. You do not stick goldfish, cats and dogs in the same area. You also do not put dogs that are on heat with dogs that are not. You have to make sure that the accommodation is good for them and that the trauma that they have experienced is addressed.”
This government and the opposition have a record of being very conscious about animal welfare issues and this piece of legislation is yet another example of this. As I said before, we need to work in concert with the Domestic Animals Act, which is out for consultation at the moment.
The ACT is determined to protect all animals and prevent unnecessary harm, pain and suffering by introducing offences that ensure that, so far as possible, animals are protected. I know this is a matter of concern to all MLAs. The Animal Welfare Advisory Committee has been consulted extensively on this legislation and has recommended changes to ensure that the legislation administered by the ACT has been reassessed in response to the increased understanding of the needs of animals, changing community attitudes and latest scientific knowledge.
I would like to acknowledge the work of the Animal Welfare Advisory Committee. I have met with them on two occasions since receiving responsibility for this portfolio and I am very pleased to say that at those meetings I told them that they not only had to continue to advise but they need to have the charter of being proactive. I do not want to have them sitting around the place waiting for the government or somebody
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