Locals Outraged at Councils Decision to Ban Dogs at Popular Qld Beach

[Deeds]

https://www.news.com.au/national/queensland/news/extremely-disappointing-locals-outraged-at-councils-decision-to-ban-dogs-from-popular-beach/news-story/b3ae86198aa52ad768d2483352870e38

[tdierikx]

Sadly, access for dogs has steadily been decreasing everywhere for some time now. Those who do the right thing are being penalised for the actions of those owners who don't.

 

Politicians are basically restricted to creating and enacting legislation... that is their sole purpose. This means that in order for them to be seen to "do something" about a problem (even only a perceived one based on a few complaints), they immediately sit down to formulate legislation to "fix" that problem, and that "solution" usually has a consultation phase where the public are able to raise their concerns and arguments against said proposed legislation. Unfortunately, that consultation phase is rarely widely advertised to the residents of the council area (or state/federal jurisdictions), and the consultation phase receives very few submissions - with the exception of those who are calling for those changes, and that can skew what is called "community expectations" to particular groups active in this sort of endeavour.

 

The political lobby group I'm with are trying our best to be across when/where all such animal-based legislation is due for review, specifically because it isn't widely advertised by councils - and I can tell you it's a bloody hard slog going through every council website in Australia, finding their animal related legislation, and when it may be up for review. Council websites are notoriously obtuse at best, and at worst downright impossible to navigate to find such information. Queensland council sites are actually easier to find this info than some other states - don't even bother trying for most NSW council websites, as the info is usually either completely absent (or out of date), or buried so deep the average person won't find it. The fact that council animal management plans can also be reviewed and/or changed at any point in time if the need to respond to a community "need" arises, makes our task even harder.

 

A typical consultation phase at local levels will generate maybe a hundred or so submissions... from a community of 50,000 residents or more (some councils have maybe a couple hundred thousand residents in their area) - is it any wonder that the politically active groups seem to be getting their agenda through when the rest of us are largely unaware or uninterested in standing up for ourselves when restrictive legislation is proposed?

 

What I advise is that everyone who has animals in their care make themselves familiar with their local government legislation, and when it's up for review or open to community consultation. Avail yourselves of your right to actively participate in the formulation of such legislation so you aren't blindsided by groups who actively lobby to restrict what can and can't be done with our animals. The simplest way to do this would be to find the "have your say" area of the council website, and check it weekly (or even monthly) to see what consultations are open for public submissions. When one that affects your care for or use of animals in your area, make a submission... it's really that simple.

 

T.