Tasmanian Labradoodle breeder Lisa Bartlett loses bid to resume business from Perth home

The daughter of labradoodle breeders banned by the RSPCA has lost her bid to resume her own dog breeding business at her Northern Midlands home. See the details >>

A labradoodle breeder Lisa Bartlett has been prevented from running her business from her Perth home.

A Supreme Court judge has dismissed an appeal by the owner of Tassie Devil Labradoodles who sought to overturn a tribunal ruling which stopped her from breeding and selling dogs from her Perth home.

Lisa Bartlett had appealed against a decision by the Tasmanian Civil and Administrative Tribunal in October last year which upheld a complaint from four of Ms Bartlett’s neighbours that her Perth Mill Road home was in a low-density residential zone and could not be used as a commercial breeding kennel.

In his judgment handed down on Friday, Justice Michael Brett, said he did not “intend to interfere with the Tribunal’s orders”.

“Accordingly, the appeal is unsuccessful and it is dismissed,” Justice Brett said.

Ms Bartlett had been granted a kennel licence by the Northern Midlands Council which permitted her to keep no more than 12 dogs on her Perth property “for the purpose of companionship”.

It was a condition of the licence that breeding of dogs was not allowed unless planning approval was obtained.

However, the council told Ms Bartlett she did not require a planning permit to breed and sell dogs because it was a home occupation and exempt from the need for planning approval.

Four of Ms Bartlett’s neighbours complained saying it impacted their amenity “because of barking and increased traffic”.

One of the neighbours specifically complained her 12 adult dogs – and numerous puppies – barked continuously with “incessant nuisance barking”.

When the council refused to act they began civil proceedings before the tribunal alleging that Ms Bartlett was running a commercial breeding business in contravention of the council’s planning scheme.

The tribunal found dog breeding was occurring at the site, and that it was not exempt from the planning scheme.

Ms Bartlett is the daughter of Epping Forest husband-and-wife team Liz and Paul Barrett, who ran a separate dog breeding business, Tasmanian Labradoodles, which was closed in July after an out-of-court settlement with the RSPCA.

More than 250 labradoodles were surrendered to the RSPCA and rehomed.

The RSPCA had brought 70 charges against the owners which were later dropped.