Page 2674 - Week 07 - Thursday, 2 August 2018
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for the Stock Act that people seemed to think that there was not much need for legislation, given that we do not have vast levels of stock in the ACT. Many of our rural lessees would disagree with them. Possibly because we have smaller stock numbers than other jurisdictions, this is an area that gets relatively little attention here. But I do understand the need to tidy up some of the provisions in our legislation to make it more workable, and, perhaps precisely because we have smaller numbers here, we have some specific issues that need to be addressed.
One of those issues is that our legislation at the moment requires that any animals that have been found and have been impounded, and are unable to be reunited with their owner, are auctioned by the director-general. The bill today instead amends this requirement and allows the director-general to sell the animals through other means, for example, by selling them directly or, unfortunately, if necessary, destroying them. This sounds extreme, but in the case of sound animal welfare reasons for this, it is good for the director-general to have this option.
This bill also updates the act to reflect the fact that the Animal Diseases Act now includes requirements for stock to be identifiable; thus if someone is moving stock they do not need to be able to prove that they have permission from the owner. The amendment removes the requirement for the stock owner to issue a permit for the stock to travel, and also clarifies that the definition of “travel” with stock in this context means moving stock on foot. In these situations the director-general is instead responsible for issuing the permit to travel, or move, the stock, as they will need to assess the road safety implications of this movement.
These are the key amendments in this bill, and the Greens will be supporting them today.
MR GENTLEMAN (Brindabella—Minister for Police and Emergency Services, Minister for the Environment and Heritage, Minister for Planning and Land Management and Minister for Urban Renewal) (4.58), in reply: I thank members for their contributions to the debate on this bill. The bill makes limited amendments to the Stock Act 2005 with the aim of updating the act.
The bill provides the Director-General of the Environment, Planning and Sustainable Development Directorate with more flexible options for dealing with impounded stock and updates the provisions in the act relating to permits for moving stock on foot.
First of all, I would like to provide some relevant information about the Stock Act. One of the aims of the Stock Act is to encourage rural landholders to ensure that their livestock are contained securely on their properties. The risks posed by escaped or trespassing livestock include collisions with motor vehicles and the potential for people to be seriously injured or even killed. This is a real risk in Canberra because of the many high-speed roads adjacent to livestock paddocks. Furthermore, the impact of straying livestock trespassing onto neighbouring properties can include the spread of disease, injury to livestock, insemination of stud livestock and consumption of fodder and damage to crops.
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