Page 532 - Week 02 - Wednesday, 20 February 2019
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been designated as dangerous dogs and put down, how many were registered as dangerous dogs, et cetera. The answer—what a surprise—was, “I am advised that the historical information received is not in an easily accessible format.”
Question 1611 asked how many court actions or fines for offences were handed down, et cetera. The answer, surprisingly, was “I have been advised by my directorate that the information sought is not in an easily retrievable form.” Question 1583—I could just keep going. It makes it very difficult to develop appropriate legislation when the minister is, deliberately or otherwise, withholding information that apparently is readily available to him and to the Greens to enable them to object to and not support my legislation, but is not available when I ask a question on notice. I find that deeply disappointing.
In conclusion, as I have said in this place many times, I respect the hard work and professionalism of the staff at Domestic Animal Services. It is not a job that I would want to do; it is not a job that most people would want to do. It is a difficult job and they do it well under the circumstances, but they must be better supported. The approach of punishing everyone with a blanket tax and blanket fees and charges is not the best approach to rewarding responsible dog owners and punishing, or not rewarding, irresponsible dog owners.
We love our dogs, our cats, our chickens, our ferrets and all of those other domestic animals. We want to enjoy our pets without fear of injury as we walk our own dog around our own block up the road from our house. We have to be responsible and respectful of others and their pets. Ensuring dog training is one way to encourage people to understand that just because your dog is friendly that does not mean that someone wants it running up to them or their dog.
We have a long history of action on dog management reform. We will continue this while this government remains reluctant to do anything at all about improving the safety of Canberrans and their pets. We should be able to walk around the lake with our pets. We should be able to walk around the block. We should be able to go to work and expect that our pets will be safe in our backyard without some other roaming dog breaking into the yard.
The government has in the past had to deal with the tragic results of its negligence in the dog management area. I thank my colleagues on this side of the chamber for their support of better management of dangerous dogs in Canberra, for their support of the approach of rewarding responsible dog owners and penalising irresponsible dog owners. I am very disappointed that once again this government is abrogating their responsibility to make Canberra safe for all Canberrans, by opposing this amendment bill.
Question put:
That this bill be agreed to in principle.
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