Communityk9 Letter Writing Campaign

[melzawelza]

Hi all,

We at Communityk9 have launched a letter writing campaign for everyone Australia wide to participate in, in regards to Breed Specific Legislation. The aim is to have as many letters as possible going to our Premiers, Ministers and local MP's, to show them that Australians want PROVEN solutions to dog bites, not the current ineffective legislation which does nothing but make the general public feel like they are safer.

We have provided a template letter for anyone who may have trouble or not have the time to write one themselves, and all the details of who to send it to on the page. We've made it as easy as possible and we'd really love if you could participate.

From our webpage here.

The Federal Attorney General Robert McClelland is urging the states and territories to adopt unified dangerous dog legislation, and he has commended the Victorian, breed-specific, approach to the issue of dangerous dogs in the community. We at CommunityK9 share AG McClelland’s desire to reduce dog bite incidents in the community, however we believe that there are many aspects of the Victorian approach that are fatally flawed!

We need our politicians to become aware that there are viable, proven, breed-neutral solutions to the issues regarding dangerous dogs, and it’s time we gave them a friendly ‘Heads up!’ on the matter. Below is a letter you can send to your state premier, local member, and any other politicians or political candidates in your area.

Feel free to use the letter as is, word for word, if you’d like to; or, if you prefer, use the main points of the letter but put them in your own words. If you are not in NSW then the reference to the Companion Animals Taskforce is not relevant and can be deleted from your version of the letter, but each of the organisations that is listed in that paragraph is either nation-wide or, if it has a branch in your state, they too support a breed-neutral approach, so listing them is still worthwhile – there are undoubtedly many politicians who do not know that there is such widespread support for a breed-neutral solution to dog bite incidents!

Contact details for each state’s members of parliament are at the end of this post.

For those folks in Victoria, the letter will be suitable for you to send to your state politicians if you amend it slightly by (1) deleting the first paragraph, and (2) replacing ‘before considering amendments to current legislation’ (in the last paragraph of the letter) with ‘in order to make the necessary amendments to bring the current legislation in line with proven, breed-neutral, public safety and animal welfare measures.’

So, let’s get to it – it’s time we made our voices heard – we want the real solutions to dog bite incidents!

Dear Minister/MP/Senator ___________,

I have become aware that the Federal Attorney General is urging the States to unify laws regarding dangerous dogs in the community. While in principle I am not against unified dog laws across the country, I am deeply concerned about the prospect of other states and territories adopting the legislative approach of Victoria.

The recently implemented Victorian legislation regarding restricted breed dogs, which was rushed through parliament, is fatally flawed! As a supposed attempt to improve community safety it flies in the face of: expert opinion, experience, and the consensus of scientific literature. Breed-Specific Legislation (banning dogs based on their breed, type or appearance) has been acknowledged as a public safety failure worldwide and has thus been repealed in The Netherlands and Italy, and is in the parliamentary process of being repealed in the UK. Our own Territories – ACT and NT – do not have breed-specific legislation, and their bite statistics evidence indicates that dogs which would be considered a restricted breed in other states are not over-represented in dog bite incidents. In fact, the ACT government has recently re-asserted its commitment to dangerous dog legislation which has no reference to breed.

Breed-Specific Legislation (BSL) is ineffective as a public safety measure in part because it includes dogs in the dangerous category who ought not to be there, whilst excluding dogs who should be included (please refer to the RSPCA Australia information paper linked to below for more information). All of the following Australian organisations/associations are opposed to BSL, those marked with an asterisk (*) are members of the NSW Companion Animals Taskforce: Australian Veterinary Association*, Australian Companion Animal Council*, RSPCA NSW*, Animal Welfare League NSW*, Dogs NSW*, Animals Australia, National Dog Trainers Federation, Pets Australia, and Lawyers for Companion Animals.

As one of the millions of Australian dog owners, I share the community’s desire to reduce the number of dog bite incidents, and I want government to serve community interests by repealing BSL and instead adopting the proven, best practice, self-funded models of companion animal management that exist and succeed in other parts of the world, such as Calgary, Canada.

As part of a strategic, emphatic solution to dog bite incidents I also support amendments to the Crimes Act that will ensure dog owners are held responsible and accountable for the actions of their dogs. By recognising that it is ‘the other end of the leash’ that must be held accountable for dog behaviour, The Calgary Model, using breed neutral laws, encourages and enforces socially responsible dog ownership; and in addition to enjoying extremely low rates of dog bite incidents, Calgary also has enviably low dog euthanasia rates – a welcome animal welfare outcome. The Calgary Model creates a safer community for all – human and dog alike – a Win-Win scenario!

In Australia we need intelligent legislation, not hysteria-driven policy designed to placate the public without genuinely protecting us. I urge you and your party to demonstrate your commitment to public safety and animal welfare by consulting with key stakeholders (such as those listed above) and experts in the field (such as animal/veterinary behaviourists), as well as with Bill Bruce (the ‘architect’ of the Calgary model) before considering amendments to current legislation.

Information on why banning breeds doesn’t work can be found here:

http://communityk9.com.au/2011/10/wondering-why-breed-bans-dont-work

And on the Calgary model, here:

http://redstarcafe.wordpress.com/2010/08/25/the-calgary-model

http://www.calgary.ca/CSPS/ABS/Pages/home.aspx

RSPCA Australia’s information paper on preventing dog attacks in the community is here:

http://www.rspca-act.org.au/files/view/?id=527

For more information on issues relating to dogs in the community, please visit CommunityK9.

Sincerely,

CONTACTS

To be most effective we need as many politicians as possible to receive as many letters as possible! For each state we have listed the contact details for the Premier, the Minister whose portfolio relates to companion animals, and have provided a link to a web page where you can search for the contact details of your electorate’s MP. It would be great if you could send a letter to each of those three contacts, but if you want to go further then please send a letter to as many state or local politicians as you can, and as many political candidates as you can – even those who aren’t in parliament need to be up on the issues that are important to the community, so that they can also be effective in bringing about change.

NSW

NSW Premier – Barry O’Farrell

[email protected]

GPO Box 5341

Sydney NSW 2000

Fax – 02 9228 3935

NSW Minister for Local Government – Don Page (issues relating to the Companion Animals Act come under his portfolio)

[email protected]

PO Box 1018

Ballina NSW 2478

Fax – 02 9228 3442

To find your NSW state member of parliament (MP) visit this page . You can search for them by name or by your electorate.

Victoria

Victorian Premier – Ted Baillieu

[email protected]

Level1, 1 Treasury Place

East Melbourne VICTORIA 3002

Fax – 03 9651 5054

Minister for Agriculture and Food Safety – Peter Walsh (issues relating to the Domestic Animals Act come under his portfolio)

[email protected]

Level 20, 1 Spring St

Melbourne VICTORIA 3000

Fax – 03 9658 4191

To find the Victorian member of parliament (MP) for your electorate, visit this page .

Queensland

Queensland Premier – Anna Bligh

[email protected]

PO Box 15185

City East QUEENSLAND 4002

Fax – 07 3221 3631

Attorney General, Minister for Local Government and Special Minister of State – Paul Lucas (issues relating to the Animal Management (Cats and Dogs) Act come under his portfolio)

[email protected]

PO Box 15009

CITY EAST QLD 4002

Fax – (07) 3224 4781

To find the Queensland member of parliament (MP) for your electorate, visit this page .

Tasmania

Tasmanian Premier – Lara Giddings

[email protected]

Executive Building Level 11

15 Murray St

Hobart TASMANIA 7000

Fax – 03 6234 1572

Minister for Primary Industries and Water – Bryan Green (issues relating to the Dog Control Act come under his portfolio)

[email protected]

Executive Building Level 10

15 Murray St

Hobart TASMANIA 7000

Fax – 03 6233 2272

To find the Tasmanian member of parliament (MP) for your electorate, visit this page .

South Australia

South Australia Premier – Jay Weatherill

[email protected] (this is the email address of the Premier’s PA)

GPO Box 2343

Adelaide SA 5001

Fax – 08 8463 3168

Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation – Paul Caica (issues relating to the Dog and Cat Management Act come under his portfolio)

[email protected]

GPO Box 1047

Adelaide SA 5001

Fax – 08 8463 5681

To find the South Australian member of parliament (MP) for your electorate, visit this page .

Western Australia

Western Australian Premier – Colin Barnett

[email protected]

24th Floor, Governor Stirling Tower

197 St Georges Terrace

Perth WA 6000

Minister for Local Government; Heritage; Citizenship and Multicultural Interests – John Castrilli (issues relating to the Dog Act come under his portfolio)

[email protected]

8th Floor, Dumas House

2 Havelock Street

West Perth WA 6005

Fax – 08 6552 6601 (please note: this fax number should be effective from Monday December 5 but one of the Minister’s staff suggested not using/relying on the fax being functional until later in that week, just in case!)

To find the Western Australian member of parliament for your electorate, visit this page if you know the member’s name, and this page if you need to search by your electorate.

If you're on facebook, and would like to see regular updates and relevant articles, we'd love it if you could like our page here.

[zayda_asher]

I'll pass this info on to people in my network... I've got a letter, just needed to dig up the contacts to send to, so that's a handy list you've given, thanks :D It might also be worth including relevant federal people to send to, as they were talking of going federal. I'm also planning to send mine to the Gov Gen, etc. as they were getting involved.

[melzawelza]

Thanks guys! The more the merrier :D

Good idea about the fed gov Snook, will speak to the other guys and see if we can get those details together too.