Companion Animals Act Review- Office of Local Government

[Deeds]

https://www.olg.nsw.gov.au/companion-animals-act-review/#:~:text=Why is the Companion Animals,neglected animals across the state.

 

Submissions close 4th May 2025.

[tdierikx]

Not a fan of government only giving an option of filling in a survey type form. Note that they aren't giving any option to provide any other form of submission. The questions in the form/survey also require a considered and articulate response if proper change is going to result, so I suggest downloading the form and filling it out in your own time, so that answers aren't rushed (as often happens with online form responses) - most of my answers to the questions run to several paragraphs. Read the Discussion Paper before doing the form, as it gives a very clear insight as to what areas they are looking at specifically for changes, and what other sources they are looking at for recommendations for change - so maybe you might want to look up the reports from the listed inquiries to see what they recommend, and whether you agree with them.

 

This is our chance to try to make the NSW government think long and hard about the realities of pet ownership, and not allowing them to make stupid kneejerk reaction type legislation that will only make pet ownership harder - simply based on the worst case scenarios that are usually highlighted in inquiries - worst case is NOT the norm, but is widely reported on in the media, so government feel the need to be seen to be trying to solve issues that may not necessarily be as widespread as the media will have you think. Case in point, the coroner who recommended making ownership of larger and more powerful dogs much harder, based only on his inquiry into ONE fatal attack - a fatal attack that had numerous failings from people other than the owner of the dogs in question that led to the death of a child. We have MILLIONS of pet dogs in this state, and fatal attacks, while tragic, are quite rare, so to make sweeping legislative changes/restrictions for ALL pet dog owners based on a rare occurrence is not something I'd wish to encourage.

 

Cats are another issue that requires a multifaceted response if we are going to make effective changes. Take note that State governments are being encouraged by the Federal government's plan for managing cats, and the Federal recommendations are draconic - basically, if a roaming cat is not chipped and registered, it will be targetted for destruction under the Federal recommendations from the Cat threat abatement plan. At the very least, we will most likely see the NSW state government look to enforcing pet cat containment in some form.

 

This is a chance to have your say about changes that may be coming... I suggest that you take the time to at least have a look at the Discussion Paper so you have some idea of what those changes might be.

 

All that said, this is still only the first step in the process. What happens next is hopefully the NSW government will look at the responses thoroughly and propose legislation that might be workable - and then we'll have our chance to look over those actual proposed changes and again have our say before the end result is put to parliament for a vote to enact those changes. The wheels of government move slowly, so the next stage could be some months away...

 

T.