Animal Welfare Legislation Amendments

– David Margan The Animal Care and Protection Act 2001 (ACPA) has been the principal legislative framework for animal welfare in Queensland for the past 21 years. Despite significant advances over that time in the science of animal welfare and increased community awareness of, and concerns about, animal welfare no review of the Act had been undertaken.

A discussion paper, Review of the Animal Care and Protection Act 2001 Discussion Paper (the Discussion Paper) was released in April 2021 and submissions for responses to the paper closed in May 2021. Dogs Queensland not only made written submissions but also, led by Ulla Greenwood and Elisa McCutcheon, appeared before the Parliamentary Committee.

Now finally a series of amendments to that Act have passed through the Queensland Parliament.

There are a few changes that either affect our members or are, at least, of interest to them and they are:

• Banning of prong collars. • Tightening the provisions around tail docking. • Greater powers for RSPCA inspectors to intervene where there is an immediate threat to an animal’s welfare. • Greater potential for scrutiny of the performance of RSPCA inspectors via increased disclosure obligations. • Removing exercise mandates for confined dogs.

PRONG COLLARS The legislation provides that;

(1) a person must not possess any of the following devices (each a prohibited device) – unless the person has a reasonable excuse): a. a prong collar b. another restraint device prescribed by regulation.

(2) A person must not use a prohibited device on an animal unless the person has a reasonable excuse.

The maximum penalty for this is 100 penalty units.

Dogs Queensland has banned the use of such devices by its members way back in 2008 so the prohibition with respect to prong collars should not have any impact on members.

There was concern about the nature of the restraint devices to be prohibited under the proposed legislation as this was unclear, particularly as the examples provided refer to collars, leads, harnesses, muzzles, halters (being restraint devices in common use). In relation to “another restraint device prescribed by regulation”, Dogs Queensland did argue for a tightening of the wording that originally stated, “and other devices” to “similar devices”. Theoretically under the legislation even a conventional collar or

harness may have may have fallen within the scope of the prohibition. Despite representations by Dogs Queensland that the nature of the prohibited restraint devices should be clearly specified, this has been left to be prescribed in the regulations.

The new amendments also now prohibit the supply (or on-supply) of a dog which has been debarked or other regulated procedure performed on it such as ear cropping and tail docking.

TAIL DOCKING The story of tail docking is much the same with its prohibition and related fines tightened and toughened as the legislation explanatory notes states: “Section 24 no longer allows a lay person to dock a dog’s tail in a prescribed way. A dog’s tail is only permitted to be docked in the interests of the dog’s welfare, and only by a veterinary surgeon. This aligns with community expectations, and similar restrictions have been introduced on tail docking in other Australian jurisdictions.” In addition, the legislation now also prohibits cropping a dog’s ear.

ANIMAL WELFARE In addition to existing offences with respect to animal cruelty, the government has toughened the punishment for serious breaches of duty of care with respect to animal welfare that cause death, serious deformity, serious disability or prolonged suffering of an animal by creating a new offence of ‘aggravated’ breach of duty of care; “This new offence is a reflection of the community’s expectation that offences that subject animals to gross neglect should be subject to higher penalties.” Consequently, the penalty for this is now a maximum 2,000 penalty units or 3 years imprisonment which is comparable with prison sentences for aggravated cruelty in other Australian jurisdictions and in New Zealand, which range from 2 years to 5 years.

RSPCA INSPECTORATE In July 2020, the then Natural Resources, Agricultural Industry Development and Environment Committee requested the Queensland Auditor-General to undertake an audit of the effectiveness of the department’s oversight of the RSPCA to perform animal welfare investigations on behalf of the State. Consequently, the Animal Welfare legislation has been amended clarifying some of the responsibilities of the RSPCA and strengthening the department’s role in overseeing the RSPCA’s regulatory functions and

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DOG TRANSPORTATION AND CONFINEMENT One of the new amendments has removed the specific obligation to exercise closely confined dogs which had particular application with respect to the transport of dogs over distances. As well as this being very difficult to enforce the government has decided that the issue is adequately covered under Section 18 (Animal cruelty prohibited) of the ACPA. Section 18 provides that a person is cruel to an animal if they confine it in such a way that is inappropriate for the animal’s welfare.

Further, in relation to canine transport new amendments have increased the fines for the inadequate transport of dogs. RSPCA statistics have reported that nationwide 5,000 dogs each year are either injured or killed as a result of jumping, falling, or protruding from a moving vehicle. Dogs must be secured to prevent them falling from escaping from or protruding from a vehicle.

Finally, dog knowledge and expertise is getting a nod with an amendment relating to the making of codes of practice that sees after the use of the word ‘welfare” the addition of the phrase, “based on good practice and scientific knowledge.” THE BREEDER INDENTIFICATION NUMBER SYSTEM Despite representations by Dogs Queensland, the amended welfare legislation may be more notable for what it doesn’t include, namely provisions to either outlaw ‘puppy farms’ or at least seriously constrain their activities and no change to the Queensland government’s failed Breeder Identification Number (BIN) system.

In fact, it would seem that the government and its departmental officers still have a completely misguided view of the efficacy of the BIN system.

This may be explained by the government’s concern that an acknowledgement of the failure of the BIN system would necessarily involve a properly run system requiring proof of competency and strict enforcement, all of which would require an adequate budget.

The Queensland government has already saved itself millions by largely farming out the management of animal welfare in the state to the RSPCA at the bargain price of $640,000 a year.

Animal welfare should be a moral and ethical issue not an accounting squib.

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