Dog poo bags: Brisbane City Council discusses the disappearance of bags at city’s parks

WHERE have all the poo bags doggone? City Hall discussed the big issues in committee meetings today.

Should dog poo bags be in regular parks, not just off-leash parks?

A BRISBANE councillor has kicked up a stink over the disappearance of dog poo bags from the city’s parks.

In City Hall today, independent Councillor Nicole Johnston (Tennyson) asked why Brisbane City Council had stopped providing the bags in parks.

Cr Johnston said she had received complaints from residents that dog bags “to pick up dog poo” were no longer supplied at the Brisbane Corso, Yeronga.

“They’re only being provided for dog off-leash areas, not in other parks, which has historically been the case,” Cr Johnston told council’s Field Services Committee on August 16.

“My question is, that seems a bit crazy to me, and who made this decision? Why was it made?

“Obviously people have got to walk 1-2 kms sometimes to get to their dog park, yes, they could bring bags from home, but we’ve done this as a service to residents for a long time.

“Why have we changed? Why are we not providing the dog bags any longer?”

Cr Johnston said she wanted to request the policy be changed and council recommence supplying dog poo bags in parks where they were removed.

She described the move as “penny pinching”.

“A lot of people do take their own (dog bags to the park),” she continued.

“It’s a bit, seriously, it’s a bit tough if we’re not providing (them). We charge them $140 to register their dog, but not providing a poo bag. It seems a bit tough.”

The registration fees for a non-desexed dog in Brisbane are $135.30 or $47.15 for a desexed dog.

Independent Councillor Nicole Johnston (Tennyson) has questioned where all the dog poo bags have gone. Picture: ELISE SEARSON

Cr Johnston said if someone lived in Yeronga west it was “nearly 2km to the dog off-leash area”.

“If you forget to take a dog bag, or you use one, and you don’t have a spare, it’s penny pinching,” she said.

Labor Councillor Charles Strunk (Forest Lake) said he had discovered a similar issue at another park.

And it sounds like whoever put the move in motion, will be in the doghouse.

This afternoon, Cr Johnston asked Lord Mayor Graham Quirk in question time whether council would overturn the change, which she had “in writing” from council as a policy decision from June 2016.

But Cr Quirk said there would be “no change to the policy in relation to the provision of dog bags in parks”.

“If anybody has taken a decision to that effect, they have done so without authority and will be answerable to me,” Cr Quirk said.

“There has been no determination by the cabinet of this city to make such a change.

“You have my assurance today that there will be no change to that policy.”