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Speaker 1: We do always catch up with the Lord Mayor of

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Speaker 1: Darwin combat scalas, so we can to catch up with

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Speaker 1: Athena Pasco Bell more often each each and every month,

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Speaker 1: and she joins me in the studio right now, the

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Speaker 1: Mayor of Palmerston, Good morning to you, Athena morning. Good

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Speaker 1: to have you in this studio. Now we know the

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Speaker 1: City of Palmerston Council or the City of Palmeston Council,

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Speaker 1: is seeking feedback from the community on proposed changes to

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Speaker 1: its animal management by laws, with consultation closing next Monday. Now.

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Speaker 1: The changes include compulsory microchipping for cats and dogs, tighter

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Speaker 1: restrictions around dangerous dogs, and prescribed penalties for offenses. Now,

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Speaker 1: they are some big changes by the sounds of it

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Speaker 1: when it comes to animal management. What exactly, I guess

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Speaker 1: are you proposing?

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Speaker 2: So the changes came from eight weeks of consultation that

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Speaker 2: we did a couple of years ago, so they're really

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Speaker 2: based on community expectations and bringing them into line with

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Speaker 2: what's happening around Australia as well. So we're introducing dangerous

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Speaker 2: dog provisions and there is a sliding scale for that,

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Speaker 2: so it'll allow council to more options for managing people

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Speaker 2: who have dangerous dogs, and of course we are managing

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Speaker 2: the people, not the dogs. Really, it's really a human issue.

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Speaker 2: And then you know, making sure that people are keeping

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Speaker 2: a dog that's been declared dangerous confined, they it might

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Speaker 2: be appropriate for them to be muzzled in public. So

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Speaker 2: we're giving the council and the ranges those powers to

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Speaker 2: be able to apply those sorts of provisions for dangerous dogs.

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Speaker 2: Also much tougher penalties, so they're going to be aligning

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Speaker 2: more closely with what the City of Darwin has for

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Speaker 2: dangerous dogs and dog attacks at the moment. Are our

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Speaker 2: fines were written in dollar values instead of penalty units,

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Speaker 2: which I think most listeners would be familiar with. So

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Speaker 2: we're now making the penalty units so as the penalty

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Speaker 2: units change each year, the fines will gradual increase in

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Speaker 2: line with that as well.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. Right, So, I mean, how many incidents do you

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Speaker 1: have I guess throughout a year on average or let's

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Speaker 1: just say last year when it comes to dangerous dogs.

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Speaker 2: Is it a big issue? I don't have the figures

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Speaker 2: with me, but you know, we have a lot of

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Speaker 2: reports of dogs at large, a lot of reports of

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Speaker 2: people being chased by dogs, and we do have the

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Speaker 2: occasional dog attack and some of them have been absolutely

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Speaker 2: horrific and we are very keen to bring those dogs

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Speaker 2: and their owners under control effectively to make the community safer.

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Speaker 1: It's something we've had emails and messages about from time

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Speaker 1: to time, not necessarily in Palmerston, probably more so actually

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Speaker 1: in the Northern suburbs, but people when they're out running,

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Speaker 1: riding their bikes, that kind of thing. Dogs that are

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Speaker 1: unrestrained and that do cause, you know, at the very best,

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Speaker 1: a terrible fright, you know, at the very worst, much worse.

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Speaker 2: The very worse. We've seen some absolutely horrific incidents involving dogs,

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Speaker 2: and you know, there are still some things that I

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Speaker 2: think the government needs to really consider and work on,

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Speaker 2: and that is the you know, a registration for dogs

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Speaker 2: right across the Northern Territory so that council can share

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Speaker 2: information more readily about dangerous dogs.

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Speaker 1: And is that something that that the different councils are

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Speaker 1: looking at doing.

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Speaker 2: It's really hard for us because if we're putting in

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Speaker 2: independent by laws, it's really hard to have a common

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Speaker 2: registry system and the sharing of information. So when there's

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Speaker 2: a chance when people move a dangerous dog from one

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Speaker 2: council to another, the incoming council might not be aware

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Speaker 2: of the history of the dog, and that is a

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Speaker 2: serious issues, particularly around the top end, and not just Darwin,

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Speaker 2: Palmerston and Lichfield. But we're now seeing incidents of dogs

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Speaker 2: being moved into more remote communities and coming back again.

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Speaker 2: So it seems to be getting at the stage where

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Speaker 2: the government really should be considering some way of managing

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Speaker 2: dogs right across the Northern territory.

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Speaker 1: Is it on the agenda do you think for the

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Speaker 1: government at this point in time, or is it something

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Speaker 1: councils raising with the government.

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Speaker 2: We raise it fairly regularly with the government, so it'll

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Speaker 2: be something I think that's on our advocacy list again.

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Speaker 1: Now tell me in terms of the changes when it

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Speaker 1: comes two cats, it's looking as like cat as though

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Speaker 1: cat registrations on the cards. How much of an issue

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Speaker 1: rhyming cats?

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Speaker 2: They cause a lot of neighborhood nuisance, especially when they're

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Speaker 2: spraying on people's front doors. You know, they're getting into

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Speaker 2: people's backyards and stirring up their cats.

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Speaker 1: Why I'm giggling in the background, I'm thinking of imagine

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Speaker 1: waking up there's a cat paying on your front door.

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Speaker 1: You wouldn't be real happy about it.

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Speaker 2: No, you wouldn't. Then when you know it's mating season

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Speaker 2: and you often hear and fighting and mating outside your

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Speaker 2: bedroom windows. So the community has made it very clear

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Speaker 2: to us they want to see cats treated the same

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Speaker 2: way as dogs, so being registered and being kept within

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Speaker 2: their own yards. So that's the reason for the introduction

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Speaker 2: of the cat registration. At this stage. It'll be up

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Speaker 2: to council when we reduce that because we do have

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Speaker 2: some work to do before we can compulsorily introduce that,

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Speaker 2: such as community education. You know, we're looking at other

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Speaker 2: methods of allowing people to contain their cats, so we

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Speaker 2: might offer things like a subsidy for a cat run

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Speaker 2: to encourage people to keep their cats contained into their vibes.

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Speaker 2: So before we actually go down the whole path of

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Speaker 2: regulating cats, and.

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Speaker 1: In terms of the cost then to you know, to

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Speaker 1: have your cat registered, do we have an idea of

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Speaker 1: how much that's going to cost or anything like that

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Speaker 1: at this point.

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Speaker 2: Not at this stage, but I imagine it'd be very similar

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Speaker 2: to dogs. So if your dog's not de sext and

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Speaker 2: or your cat's not de SX, you're probably be required

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Speaker 2: to pay a higher fee. If it's desexed and microchip,

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Speaker 2: then it's you know, I think at this stage, if

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Speaker 2: it's de sexed, microchips and you're on a pension, it's

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Speaker 2: like ten or fifteen dollars a year yep. So it's

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Speaker 2: affordable and it means that if your animal is collected,

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Speaker 2: the rangers will return it to you immediately rather than

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Speaker 2: impounding it.

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Speaker 1: Now, tell me in terms of some of these changes,

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Speaker 1: is the Pound equipped for the changes? Like is there

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Speaker 1: going to be a cattery needed? Have you already got

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Speaker 1: that or have you got what you need to be

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Speaker 1: able to make these changes come into play?

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Speaker 2: At this stage, we don't have a cattery, but we've

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Speaker 2: completed stages one and two of our pound redevelopment and

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Speaker 2: the cattery is in one of the latest stages. So

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Speaker 2: it'll be I guess an operational decision about when a

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Speaker 2: partly council decision as well about whether we go ahead

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Speaker 2: and build a cattery or whether we just reach out

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Speaker 2: to one of the homing or animal shelters and say

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Speaker 2: can we you know, have a deal with you or

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Speaker 2: a tender for them to take any cats that we

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Speaker 2: do end up having two impound yep.

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Speaker 1: And so when will these new bylaws take effect? It

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Speaker 1: does still sound like there's a bit of work to

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Speaker 1: get through.

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Speaker 2: Well, we're in the final stages of consultation now and

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Speaker 2: there is a meeting this evening at the council Chamber

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Speaker 2: for anyone who's interested in this. But we are aiming

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Speaker 2: to have implemented for the first of July. And of

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Speaker 2: course you know there'll be some very quick transitioning for dogs,

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Speaker 2: which we currently already manage, and then some of those

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Speaker 2: other elements like the cats will come in a bit

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Speaker 2: later when councils got some more policies in place and

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Speaker 2: are ready to proceed with that.

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Speaker 1: Now, I know that there's always plenty happening out in Palmerston.

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Speaker 1: And when it comes to swell getting up and going,

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Speaker 1: how did it go over that Christmas break?

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Speaker 2: Look, it was a really fantastic turnout. I haven't got

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Speaker 2: official numbers, but the staff have told me that it

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Speaker 2: was absolutely overwhelming the number of people that attended over

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Speaker 2: that school break. It's obviously declining a bit now that

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Speaker 2: school's back. I'm sure all parents are happy for that.

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Speaker 1: Too. Yeah, well that's right, we're all happy the kids

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Speaker 1: are back at school. Listener has message through and said,

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Speaker 1: are you able to ask who paid for the adverts

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Speaker 1: on TV for Swell, but also who's paying for the free.

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Speaker 2: Access our counsel.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, well that was what I thought, that it was

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Speaker 1: a council initiative and that the council would obviously be

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Speaker 1: covering those costs. Yeah.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, and it has been free for a number of years,

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Speaker 2: so it wasn't just free for the Christmas period. We've

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Speaker 2: had that facility free now for several years.

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Speaker 1: And do you find like, in terms of the number

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Speaker 1: of people going out there, whether they're going to Swell

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Speaker 1: or just going out to that facility, other numbers quite high.

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Speaker 1: I know you said they've minimized over the Christmas store

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Speaker 1: over the now school's gone back, but are they quite high?

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Speaker 2: So unofficially yes, my CEO has told me that the

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Speaker 2: numbers over that Christmas break were more than the previous

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Speaker 2: year that the facility was opened. So it's definitely attracted

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Speaker 2: a large crowd.

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Speaker 1: I'm not surprised. It looks pretty exciting out there, yeah.

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Speaker 2: And of course we just want people to come down,

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Speaker 2: use it, enjoy the facility swim. The more active you

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Speaker 2: can be, the better it is for everyone, yourself, your

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Speaker 2: mental health, your wellbeing, the public health system. Everyone wins.

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Speaker 2: So that's part of our philosophy for having it free

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Speaker 2: is that anyone can go there, exercise, enjoy the outdoors,

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Speaker 2: have a good time and maybe meet up with people.

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Speaker 2: It's good for your mental health.

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Speaker 1: Absolutely. Well, we're doing feb Fit here on mixed one

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Speaker 1: O four nine at the moment. This is something that

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Speaker 1: we really like. We love getting involved in that kind

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Speaker 1: of stuff and trying to get people active. And I

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Speaker 1: know that the Council does put on quite a few

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Speaker 1: events each and every year, don't you you know, to

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Speaker 1: get people out and about.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, so this so February and March we have get

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Speaker 2: Active Palmerston. It's a regular free health program that's on

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Speaker 2: right now. Yep, just jump onto Council's website. There's a

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Speaker 2: whole lot of different activities. I think there's a yoga meditation,

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Speaker 2: you can come down to swell and there'll be swimming

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Speaker 2: lessons for all ages. I just trying to think what

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Speaker 2: else good stuff? Well, you can go jump, so you know,

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Speaker 2: get in there, give it a go. See if you

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Speaker 2: like it, and then if you do like it, you

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Speaker 2: might find some people that you girl with and some

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Speaker 2: activity that you want to continue with.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. Absolutely well Athena Pasco Bell, the Mayor of Palmerston.

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Speaker 1: Really good to catch up with you. As always, we'll

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Speaker 1: talk to you again soon.

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Speaker 2: Thank you, thank you,