Page 2813 - Week 08 - Tuesday, 13 August 2019
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We have to question the government’s priorities when they prioritise some areas that have not had a lot of requests over other areas that have had a lot of requests for improvement. You can see how popular those parks are and how many people are using them. I echo the estimates committee recommendation 207 that the ACT government ensures that ageing park facilities are replaced in a timely manner. I agree, and this is really important when constituents and members of the public request upgrades. I would be more confident about it if the minister was more open and transparent and did not send an email to one person saying one thing and then answer questions during estimates saying something completely different.
Another area we have spoken about in this place quite a lot over the past couple of years is dogs. It is estimated that the number of dogs in Canberra may have tripled in the past two decades. Sadly, with that comes a potential increase in attacks by dogs on humans, other dogs and other domestic pets. That has continued to rise, at about 30 per cent, year on year.
The number of dangerous dog licences has gone up over the last five years—that is, more dogs known to be dangerous are identified and sent back into the community. The number of dogs euthanised has trended downward over the past five years, despite more dogs in Canberra. Fines have declined in real terms by 40 per cent over a decade while dog numbers have increased. Revenue from fines for dog offences has trended down over the past five years and income from court action on dog offences has been zero since 2014. These figures come from answers to questions on notice.
Despite all the evidence to the contrary, the government continues to assure us that we have the strongest dog laws in the country. What good are they if we are not enforcing them appropriately? What good are they if we are not doing something about them? It was with a feeling of optimism and certainly interest that we heard recently that since June a six-member team would specifically target off-lead dogs. I am looking forward to hearing more about the effectiveness in reducing the number of dog attacks and enforcing laws to address irresponsible dog owners. This is about people who are doing the wrong thing.
The vast majority of dog owners are doing the right thing and they are responsible. As with many areas in our community and public policy, the small number of people doing the wrong thing cause problems for everyone else. We want to ensure that we are not penalising and punishing everyone with a broadbrush approach. We need to target and focus on the people doing the wrong thing, not the majority who are doing the right thing.
We know the six new positions are not spending their entire time focusing on dangerous dogs or dog attacks; they are doing other really important work, for example, looking at illegal dumping and littering. I get a lot of complaints about that area as well, so I welcome the announcement of the six new staff members and I hope to hear more about the difference they are making in these areas in TCCS.
I will touch briefly on waste management. Some $973,000 is to be spent over two years on diverting organic waste from landfill. The funding will be used to investigate
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