By Paul Hemsley

Western Australian Local Government Association (WALGA) President Troy Pickard has demanded the state government needs to urgently to push through two key pieces of legislation affecting the operation of councils before the parliamentary rises for the Christmas break.

Mr Pickard has called on the state government to pass the Dog Amendment Bill 2012 and the Local Government Amendment Bill (No 2) 2012 as soon as possible because the Legislative Assembly has just two weeks to run before going into recess for the rest of the year.

“Both pieces of legislation will greatly assist Local Government operations,” Mr Pickard said.

Mr Pickard said local government has advocated for both bills “for a number of years” and has secured bi-partisan support from all political parties.

He said this support should not pose a problem to get the bills passed through parliament.

A key reason WA councils are pushing the state government to pass the bills before the pending recess is the looming state election in March. Further delays beyond the present session of Parliament would mean the bills would needed to be reintroduced and put at the mercy of the next government’s legislative priorities.

“[This] may risk their disappearance from the agenda or at the very least a delay of another nine months,” Mr Picard said.

He said such a scenario would be an ineffective use of Parliament’s time and could hit local government operations as well as planning and budgeting for the next financial year and beyond.

WA councils have been pushing for tougher dog control laws for several years following an increase in the number of vicious dog attacks on people in the state.

A particular area of concern is the increase in popularity of aggressive breeds and specially cultivated fighting dogs that councils want restricted along.

In August 2012 WALGA welcomed the introduction of Dog Act amendments but cautioned that the legislation did not take into account the introduction of new breeds of dangerous dogs.