Mackey Moana: Dog Control Amendment Bill (No 2) — First Reading 
Mackey Moana: Dog Control Amendment Bill (No 2) — First Reading 
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MOANA MACKEY (Labour) 
: 
 I am happy to take a call on the first reading of the Dog Control Amendment Bill (No 2) which will be going to the Local Government and Environment Committee and we look forward to a robust debate there. I say to the member who has just resumed his seat that that was a “bob each way” speech. He spent the entire time opposing the bill and opposing the Dog Control Act and just before sitting down he said: “By the way we’re going to support it.” Labour knows that whenever something happens in this country to do with dangerous dogs National members leap to their feet and ask what the Government has done and what it is doing to control dangerous dogs. Well the Government is constantly looking at the current laws the tools provided to local government to deal with dangerous dogs. We have only to look across to Australia which has had microchipping. I noted that the honourable John Carter did not mention the very good speech he gave in this House when he was a Minister in the National Government. He was not the Minister responsible for that legislation but he was a Minister and he supported the microchipping of dogs and said he looked forward to a bill coming into this House because microchipping was a cost-effective and simple way of keeping track of dogs. I agree with that member even if he has done a 180-degree about-face—a flip-flop—on that issue. 
We have found that countries like ours that have gone with microchipping have been able to record the behaviour of a dog in a way that we have not done before—say a dog that has shown menacing behaviour. Without that it is very easy to move that dog to another territorial authority where it has no record of that dog’s previous behaviour or to swap owners. With a dog that is microchipped its behaviour will be recorded so even if the owner tries to change the dog’s location or change its name that local authority will know that it is a dangerous dog and that dog can be destroyed before we see another tragedy like we have had. So it is typical of National members to say that because some people may not comply with the current law we should not do anything at all to make sure that our laws are as strong as possible. 
This is another classic example of the Labour-led Government and the parties that support this bill taking an approach that will prevent dog attacks and give local authorities the ability to track these dangerous dogs and destroy them before they attack a child. We will never know how many attacks we manage to prevent; that is what happens when we look to prevent attacks rather than simply clean up the mess or be the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff. 
I look forward to this bill going to the Local Government and Environment Committee. I am sure we will have a robust debate on it as with the previous Dog Control Amendment Bill in the last term of Parliament. I look forward to the bill providing local government people with more measures to be able to deal with the dogs they have to deal with every single day and being able to give those people the powers to do what they need to do to take these dogs off our streets. I am sure that another speaker from the National Party will stand and absolutely oppose everything about this bill and in the last 30 seconds say that National will vote for it. I am very happy to commend the bill to the House.