Govt to seek to send dog law back to committee

Leader of the House Michael Cullen will seek leave when Parliament resumes tomorrow to refer back to the local government select committee a bill seeking to ban dangerous breeds of dog.

“To get the measure referred back, I will need the support of other parties in the House. I hope that will be forthcoming,” he said.

The Local Government Law Reform Bill [No 2], now sitting at number 39 on the order paper, was introduced in 1999. All the other parts of the initial legislation have been passed but this provision was held back because there were concerns at how it would work in practice.

“The British tried a similar approach and their experience has been that it is difficult to determine how the ban should apply to cross-bred dogs,” Dr Cullen said.

“But reference back to the select committee will enable all the issues surrounding strengthened dog controls to be examined and the bill amended to incorporate the committee’s conclusions.”

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