Legislative changes are necessary to bring outdated laws into line with current cultural, demographic and technological change across Australia.

 

Effective legislation

Major problems with legislative change are that it is often slow, tedious and expensive. However, the relevance of animal management laws and regulations must be constantly checked against their practical application and community acceptance if they are to work effectively. How to recognise the need for change and embark on this essential strategic task was identified in the ACT in 2001 (ACT Strategic Companion Animal Management Package ), where numerous complaints about the efficacy of existing legislation stimulated simplification and consolidation of laws into one easily administered Domestic Animals Act 2000.

Animal management legislation evolves over time. Early animal management legislation did not address problems encountered with dangerous dogs or cat nuisance. In recent years, reforms have introduced these issues and in most jurisdictions cats are now legally recognised.

The first state to introduce compulsory microchip identification for pets, lifetime registration and one central animal registry was NSW (Compulsory microchipping in NSW ). Problems with the registry were encountered and resolved, with highlights being reuniting more animals with their owners and identifying unregistered animals.

Enforcement

Problems have also been encountered with the enforceability and coverage of each new Act, including unrealistic community expectations that all pet problems would be solved. For legislation to be effective, education and increasing the compliance of pet owners are advocated together with learning from the experiences of other Councils (NSW Animal Management Legislation - a progress and change ). In order that Councils can administer Acts they must be a vocal and equal party in all stages of legislation development. This should gain support for the reforms Councils know they, and other animal interests, need at the local level (How to improve companion animals by managing people better).



Legislation, regulation and codes are of little use if compliance is low. CCAC holds that first understanding community needs and expectations, then addressing them, will greatly enhance owner/community compliance. How to achieve this includes the need for regulations to be just and reasonable and to attack the root cause (Rabies: A Forceful Argument for Urban Animal Management and Regulatory compliance - exploring its limitations). They should focus on the result wanted and not the means of attaining it. Voluntary compliance is espoused over regulation.



Compliance (and the human-animal bond) is further facilitated by having well-behaved animals and knowledgeable owners. The role of animal behaviour and training is important in this context. Both understanding a dog's behaviour problems and providing training to overcome them (AMREX - an integrated system for Companion Animal Management) address many community concerns. Legislation must be based on thorough research of community attitudes. The reasons why controls are necessary must be easily understood through targeted education campaigns (Cat legislation - what precisely did we learn in SA).

Benchmarking



Benchmarking (Benchmarking Victoria - an all council view and comparison) a Council's animal management performance against others provides a powerful tool to stimulate improvement. But undertaking and then using benchmarking to advantage can seem a daunting task. Benchmarking is integral to smart, strategic planning and this relies on knowing where you are now and where you want to be. A culture with customer focus and clear performance indicators marks the start. Data sharing with partners then provides a statistical base for reporting on cost, quality and customer service. If necessary, immediate improvements can be made or priorities reviewed (Benchmarking Victoria - an all council view and comparison). Successful benchmarking methodology can also be adopted by other jurisdictions and Councils (Benchmarking for performance and measurement). Further benchmarking will monitor change and trends over time.



Surveys, alone or as part of benchmarking, can be used to gauge community attitudes, needs and priorities. It is important to recognise when to use surveys, together with their rationale and design (Turning research into reality). Some unexpected results can be revealed in surveys, for example that there was support from owners for cat confinement at night, most dog owners understood relevant legislation and evidence of a positive correlation between number of AMO patrols and community satisfaction with animal services.



Other issues



An ever-present issue is raising the profile of animal management and for AMOs to know there is firm support for the work they do. Increasing this support from Councils can come from a reduction in community lobbying of Councillors by setting and enforcing consistent, realistic fines and reviewing privacy laws to ensure the job can be done (Walk a mile in my shoes). It is imperative that Councils and AMOs work together to establish suitable sites for off leash exercise areas and no-go zones. Councils must set agreed and unambiguous strategic directions that can be implemented on the ground. To facilitate this, Councillors and Chief Executive Officers are invited to get a feel for AMOs' work by listening to and even accompanying them. Issues of signage, transport, technology, training and infrastructure can become readily apparent.



Conclusion



CCAC's strong stance of promoting responsible pet ownership is reflected in legislation in:

• NSW [Companion Animals Act - implementation],


• South Australia [Evaluating outcomes - what should we measure] and


• Victoria [The Townsville Plan - an update].