By Emma Young
A West Australian local government will this week become the latest to attempt to enact cat containment laws – and this time, the attempt might stick where others have not.
Twenty-three WA local governments have previously tried to implement permanent cat containment laws since 2014, some more than once, but been disallowed by a government committee that reviews shires’ legislation against the state Cat Act.
Numbats in the Dryandra woodlands of WA, which along with the Pingelly area is one of only a handful of locations the once-widespread species is still found.Credit: Robert McLean
Only two, Northam and Narrogin, have successfully enacted permanent containment laws, the WA Feral Cat Working Group describing this as slipping under the radar for unknown reasons, and saying this reveals inconsistency in the way the state committee interprets laws.
The Shire of Pingelly, south-east of Perth and north of Narrogin, has had one attempt knocked back, but has now attempted what feral cat working group executive Bruce Webber calls a “bold and visionary” take on the “Clause 82 approach”, in which a local government is allowed to adopt the existing law of another local government via a clause of the Cat Act. Its Save the Numbats Local law closely mirrors Narrogin’s successful 2016 law and takes effect this Friday.
Shire of Pingelly chief executive Andrew Dover said there were only 2000 numbats left in the wild and the area was one of their strongholds.
“Once these animals are gone, they’re not coming back,” he said.
“We are also home to woylies, pygmy possums, phascogales, chuditch and a wide variety of birdlife and reptiles, all of which are predated by cats.
“We must preserve them for future generations.
“We also wish to protect our cats. This is beneficial for them as well.”
The shire is seeking not to just contain cats but to limit ownership to two per household, with the option to apply for more subject to shire approval, and is investigating providing grants for ‘catios’.
“The community is fully on board with this; we’ve advertised this or similar laws three times now and no objections have come in,” Dover said.
Cat predation is one of the main threats’ to the numbats’ future. Credit: Robert McLean
“We have received quite a bit of support locally and more broadly from wildlife groups.
“We are frustrated that we haven’t got there yet.”
Dover said the official reason for the law’s knock-back was an advertising-grounds technicality. The shire had now received legal advice that its new law was in accordance with the Cat Act and could carry out its aims and intentions.
“We believe it should be permitted and if it isn’t, our current intention is to push that all the way to the Upper House of the Parliament to get that hearing, not just by the committee but by the full house,” he said.
“That would of course be subject to a council decision, but that is the current consensus around the council table.”
WA Feral Cat Working Group executive Bruce Webber said it would be a brave politician or committee that disallowed an evidence-based law focused on saving WA’s iconic numbats.
He said the joint standing committee was being reformed this month under the new state government and could potentially reconsider its legal interpretations.
If this happened, other local government attempts could be reconsidered, including the recent disallowance of a City of Bayswater cat law.
Webber said the original Cat Bill in 2011 was clear that local governments should be able to make laws for cat containment and the state’s most respected legal minds on local government law agreed.
He said the committee also changed legal advisors at the end of 2024 and had the opportunity of testing their legal position with the State Solicitor’s Office, which they had never yet chosen to do.
“This refresh creates the opportunity for long-overdue change,” he said.
“Perhaps finally, and with minimal fuss, the government can act on the mandate given to them in 2019, when 73 per cent of people surveyed as part of the last Cat Act review stated that they wanted permanent cat containment.”
Webber anticipated the committee’s new membership would be announced later this week, but a first meeting was not likely until next month, so the new Pingelly law would stand for now.
He supported the shire’s position that it would fight for its law if necessary.
“In the past the committee have recommended disallowance and local governments have capitulated. They don’t want to annoy the politicians,” he said.
“But if Pingelly refuses to accept the disallowance … it would go to the Upper House for debate and decision for the first time … a new Upper House with a very different composition.
“They are firm in their belief they are doing the right thing.”
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