Passing of stronger dog legislation in QLD

The QLD Agriculture and Fisheries and Other Legislation Amendment Bill was recently passed through QLD State Parliament.

The AVA provided submissions to this legislation amendment, the related consultation on stronger dog laws in QLD and Dr Isabelle Resch, President of the Australian Veterinary Behaviour Group, also appeared as a witness for the AVA at a Parliamentary Committee Inquiry.

At all opportunities through this consultation, the AVA’s position on breed specific legislation including “Deed not breed” was well articulated, as well as the importance of being proactive rather than reactive when it comes to addressing dog behaviour issues.

Other stakeholders giving evidence at the Inquiry were strongly aligned with the AVA’s position on not banning specific breeds of dogs. The inability to reliably identify individual dogs as being of a breed to subject to a ban was also highlighted.

In passing of the legislation, positions and concerns aligned with those of the AVA around breed specific legislation continued to be discussed.

This included Shadow Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Mr Tony Perrett’s response:

“The bill introduces a statewide ban on restricted dog breeds. There are significant concerns about whether this is achievable by the legitimate identification of prescribed breeds and whether this will be open to legal challenge. Focusing on the breed and not the behaviour is flawed because you cannot accurately determine some of the prescribed breeds. Furthermore, the RSPCA submission said this approach targets dogs and dog owners that have no known history of menacing or dangerous behaviour, discriminating against them based on breed or appearance.”

Shadow Minister for Local Government, Shadow Minister for Disaster Recovery, Shadow Minister for Volunteers, Ms Ann Leahy, also provided this argument:

“….the bill does not establish how breeds can be identified in the event the owner of the dog disputes the breed identification. Any dog of size, breed or mix of breeds can be dangerous and dog management strategies should focus on the behaviour of the individual dog.

This position is consistent with the large volume of evidence and global opinion.”

The AVA will continue its advocacy work in this area.