Page 5221 - Week 14 - Wednesday, 29 November 2017
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
Maybe Mr Coe is out there trying to quash whatever Mr Hanson does. But the Canberra Liberals do do things, whether it be in committee, in this chamber or out in the community. The Canberra Liberals should have things to be proud of. I have listed one, and it is one that I think was very important. I hope that next year when we come back to this chamber the Canberra Liberals will be able to talk about what they have done this year.
Question resolved in the affirmative.
Domestic Animals (Dangerous Dogs) Legislation Amendment Bill 2017
Debate resumed from 1 November 2017, on motion by Mr Coe:
That this bill be agreed to in principle.
MS FITZHARRIS (Yerrabi—Minister for Health and Wellbeing, Minister for Transport and City Services and Minister for Higher Education, Training and Research) (11.27): I am pleased today to present the ACT government’s response to the Domestic Animals (Dangerous Dogs) Legislation Amendment Bill 2017 tabled by the opposition on 1 November 2017. I would first like to acknowledge and thank the late Steve Doszpot, whose commitment to improving dangerous dog laws has made a substantial contribution to this debate, and I again send my sincere condolences to his family and all members on his recent passing.
I met with Mr Doszpot in recent months to discuss his concerns. He remained fully committed to making a difference for the community in this area, as I do. The government is supporting the majority of the bill put forward on behalf of Mr Doszpot and is proposing additional amendments to strengthen it. I thank Steve for his passion, initiative and openness in discussions around the management of dangerous dogs.
Madam Speaker, I will talk to procedure briefly and I hope that my office and officials are listening. I understand that there are some ongoing discussions with the opposition about the amendments proposed by them and by the government. I propose at the end of the in-principle stage to adjourn debate until we have more certainty on the procedure. When we finish the in-principle stage we will have more clarity in the chamber about the later debate. I am hoping that all those involved in those very intense discussions can hear this and that we can get through this stage and move to the detail stage after an adjournment of the debate.
Community concern about dog attacks highlights that we do need to do more to manage dangerous dogs in the ACT and to ensure that our community behaves responsibly when it comes to pet ownership. This is something that I have been talking about now for some time. Certainly it was important that we develop an animal welfare and management strategy as well as do further work to strengthen legislation in this area.
In my discussions with the late Mr Doszpot, I committed to him that we would hear him out. I have also met with a number of members of our community who have been
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video