Dog attacks: Queensland councils call for reform of dangerous dog laws after attacks

Local councils have urged the Queensland government to drag out important dog law reforms that supporters say will help deal with a wave of vicious attacks.

Moreton Bay Mayor Peter Flannery said Prime Minister Annastacia Palaszczuk “urgently prioritized” the consultation process, which was first launched in December 2021 but only after a series of chilling attacks in early 2023.

Five Queenslanders were injured in separate dog attacks across the state in just one week in early 2023, with Moreton Bay Council recording a total of 284 attacks last year.

Kane Minion, 42, a contract meter reader for Energex, was killed when he was mauled by a Bandog/Bullmastiff/Rhodesian Ridgeback mix in the suburb of Greenbank, south of Brisbane.

More recently, there has been a spate of attacks on young children, including six-year-old Lacuarna Chapman Palmer, who suffered horrific injuries to her chest, abdomen and shoulder.

She was playing on the fence at Woodridge, in Logan, when the neighbor’s bullmastiff snatched her. She was rescued by her uncle Rhys Chapman.

Just days later, a three-year-old girl suffered serious head and neck injuries when she was attacked by a dog at her grandmother’s home in the northern Gold Coast.

“It’s appalling to think that it took such horrifying attacks to get this important issue back on the agenda,” Flannery said.

“Our position is clear: councils need to strengthen their powers to investigate and deal with serious dog attacks.”

In Queensland, special rules apply to owners of dangerous or threatening dogs, including mandatory registration, wearing a unique dog collar and tag, and keeping the dog in a safe, child-proof enclosure.

Mr. Flannery said that after the attack on a small child in 2007, the council took steps to tighten its own dog ownership rules, including a zero-tolerance policy for dangerous dogs.

Faced with pressure from the Queensland Local Government Association (LGAQ), the state government announced in late 2021 that it would review its Animal Management Act and litigation in consultation with councils.

LGAQ chief executive Alison Smith said the councils proposed “badly needed” changes, including expanding the powers of council members.

“Dangerous dogs are a critical issue for communities and councils have been hard at work to find reasonable, workable solutions to a growing problem that often has dire and even tragic consequences,” said Ms Smith.

“The council’s hardworking staff dedicated their time and their knowledge to pushing for much needed legislative change over many months in the Animal Management Working Group.

“It is critical that this work moves forward quickly so that state and local governments can work together to achieve better safety records in communities across Queensland.”

Queensland Agriculture Minister Mark Ferner convened a meeting of the Animal Management Working Group in April to propose strict new measures on dog ownership.

The proposed changes would include a “sliding scale” of fines based on the severity of the attack, with owners potentially facing prison sentences for attacks that result in grievous bodily injury or death.

Other proposed changes included a statewide ban on restricted breeds (five breeds are banned in Australia) and on-the-spot fines for owners of off-leash dogs.

Mr. Ferner said public safety is a top priority for the state government.

“The working group working group has been meeting monthly since September 2022 and the working group was supposed to meet in May,” he said.

“The working group also met in April to discuss an issue of great public concern.

“I look forward to consultations with the general public on the working group’s proposed legislative changes in the near future.”

The task force will meet for the fourth time this month and a discussion paper on proposed changes to the Animal Management Act 2008 is expected to be finalized shortly. The discussion paper will then be posted for public comment.

Further south, local councils in New South Wales also faced high-profile dog attacks.

In February, five-week-old Mia Jade Riley was sleeping in her bassinet near her grandmother’s home in Moruya, on the south coast of New South Wales, when two Rottweilers attacked her without warning.

The Eurobodalla County Council confirmed that the dogs were killed after the attack.

In a statement, a spokesman for the council said the council had not received any reports of the dangers of Rottweilers, only a number of noise complaints that had been acted upon.

In Sydney, the Blacktown LGA reported the highest number of dog attacks at the end of 2022, with 767 dog attacks reported in the last quarter of that year.

Originally published as Queensland councils call for reform of dangerous dog laws after ‘terrible attacks’