Marion Council was arrogant, aggressive over cat curfew: Environment Minister
Marion Council was arrogant, aggressive and wouldn’t take advice in relation to its proposed cat curfew, Environment Minister David Speirs says. Now the State Government will step in to create a model by-law to stop cats roaming at night.
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Marion Council’s arrogant and aggressive approach as well as its refusal to take advice led to the downfall of its controversial cat curfew, Environment Minister David Speirs says.
Mr Speirs says the State Government will now step in to create an overarching by-law aimed at stopping cats from roaming at night.
He said the by-law, which individual councils could choose to adopt if they wished, would be developed in consultation with the RSPCA and other councils – but not Marion Council, because they had blown their chance at creating a model regulation.
It came after State Parliament on Wednesday voted to disallow the council’s planned by-law.
Under the council’s proposal, residents would have been able to apply to the council for a cat trap for their property and once they catch a feline, they would report it to the council.
Council officers would then run a microchip and registration check over the cat to find its owner.
If an owner could not be found, the animal would be turned over to the RSPCA.
Owners of wandering cats could be slapped with fines of $187.50.
However, Parliament’s Legislative Review Committee noted the mooted regulation surrounding how felines would be seized and destroyed was not in line with the Dog and Cat Management Act and other important details, such as the hours between which the curfew would be in effect, were not specified.
Instead the council sought to be allowed to choose curfew hours by way of council resolution – something the committee was concerned could result in the adoption of hours that may unreasonably burden cat owners.
Mr Speirs said he was “disappointed” with the outcome.
“The council had the opportunity to demonstrate the creation of a by-law that would deal with cat management that could be used by other councils,” he said.
“Sadly, rejecting advice from the State Government, the council developed a law that was outside the scope of the powers (of) the Dog and Cat Management Act and that meant that the bipartisan legislative review committee had to strike it down.
“Marion Council, for whatever reason, (through) their rejection of advice, their arrogance, their aggressive approach, they’ve created a situation where we now don’t have the opportunity to have a good cat management law in place for that council.”
Mr Speirs said the council had wasted its own time as well as that of its community and the Parliament - but the situation could have been avoided.
“There were issues around the detaining of cats; There were issues around treating cats in the same way as dogs; And there were issues around community consultation – These were all things that could have been solved quite easily,” he said.
“Council was given advice to make these small amendments. They chose not to. They pushed on. They pushed on arrogantly., They pushed on aggressively. And they pushed on as if they knew best.
“There was legal advice provided to that council that would have avoided that whole situation.
“Marion Council should get their house in order.”
Mr Speirs said the Government was “very interested in getting model by-laws in place to get this right”.
“One thing is for sure, we won’t be able to work with Marion Council on this matter – They’ve squibbed the opportunity to show leadership,” he said.
“I will work with any council that will work with us.”
Marion Mayor Kris Hanna, who said the council’s proposed by-law was “backed 100 per cent by legal advice as valid and supportable”, responded to Mr Speirs’ criticism.
“I can’t understand why he would say that,” he said.
Mr Hanna said 75 per cent of the residents were in favour of the plan in principle.
“The community in Marion would be disappointed (in the decision to quash the by-law) because the very clear majority wanted a cat curfew,” he said.
“We went down this track because the Minister suggested that Marion Council show some leadership. We have done that, and if it’s the parliament’s decision to disallow the cat curfew then perhaps it’s the turn of the state government to show some leadership and deal with cat misbehaviour.”
Mr Hanna said the cat curfew, which the council had been working on for about two years, “would solve a lot of the problems that people complain about, both in terms of bird life being attacked and also cats being a nuisance to neighbours”.
“Marion Council’s preferred position was always for there to be a State Government solution that covered at least all of metropolitan Adelaide so that’s probably what we’ll be taking up,” he said.
Meanwhile, the RSPCA is keen to see a statewide approach to cat management implemented.
RSPCA chief executive officer Paul Stevenson said a “unified statewide approach to cat management is the only way to turnaround the current, unsustainable situation of cat overpopulation and other issues with stray cats”.
“Cats do not understand council borders and we currently have about one third of councils with cat by-laws that are completely different,” he said.
“It is no surprise that they are proving to be totally ineffective in addressing the issue of cat management across our state.”
The RSPCA called on the Dog and Cat Management Board to prioritise cat management in its current review of the Dog and Cat Management Act.
Changes arising from the review are expected to be implemented in 2022.
“It is time to stop tinkering at the edges of this major issue, impacting humans and animals alike, and get on with the strategic rollout of all the actions detailed in this solid plan,” Mr Stevenson said.