Arabic version: مجالس غرب أستراليا تستعد لتشديد ضوابط القطط الأليفة
According to ABC News, councils across Western Australia are preparing potential restrictions on roaming pet cats as they await state legislation that would expand their local powers. The bill has passed the lower house with opposition support and could clear the upper house before the end of the year.
Under current rules, councils can ban cats from particular public places, address nuisance behaviour and enforce sterilisation, microchipping and registration. They cannot generally limit a cat’s movements without applying to a special parliamentary committee. The proposed changes would allow councils to keep cats on owners’ premises, set conditions for cats in public areas, introduce sunset-to-sunrise curfews, and require effective owner control or containment when cats leave a property.
The City of Canning has begun an online survey of ratepayers and expects support for some type of curfew, Deputy Mayor Mark Bain said. He said the council wanted to act early because its boundaries include wildlife areas such as Canning River Regional Park. Bayswater Mayor Filomena Piffaretti said her community wanted further controls, while the City of Vincent has also flagged restrictions.
In the Shire of Pingelly, chief executive Andrew Dover said a draft local law was ready for consultation once the reforms pass. He said the shire would prefer full containment over curfews, citing examples in other jurisdictions where night-time curfews had been difficult to enforce. The shire would initially focus on owner education before impounding and fining repeat offenders, he said.
WA Feral Cat Working Group executive manager Bruce Webber urged faster progress, while a 2023 Biodiversity Council study found roaming pet cats killed 323 million native mammals, birds and reptiles in Australia each year. A spokesperson for Local Government Minister Hannah Beazley said the government remained committed to the reforms, though timing depended on parliament and the broader legislative agenda. Animal Justice Party MLC Amanda Dorn opposed mandatory containment, calling it unfair and unworkable.
