Hon Dr Nick Smith National Party Local Government Spokesman

9 August 2005

Minister's name all over stupid dog code draft

Labour cannot claim the draft new dog code has nothing to do with the Government when Jim Sutton, as Minister of Agriculture, has his name all over it, says National's Local Government spokesman, Nick Smith.

"I can understand that six weeks out from an election Labour would want to distance itself from these daft new dog welfare rules, but the Minister has written the preface and has overseen four drafts of this nonsense," says Dr Smith.

"The Minister saw nothing wrong with a 45-page code for cats in March, so why should we be surprised about a 60-page code for dogs?

"National raised these concerns after being approached by kennel clubs and Federated Farmers, who felt their concerns were not being addressed.

"That these stupid requirements - to clean a dog's bowl daily and clean their kennel weekly - have survived four drafts proves this was exactly what the Government intended.

"Labour has passed laws requiring every dog in New Zealand to be microchipped from next July, so it is no surprise that they've been stupid enough to put these sort of nanny state regulations in writing," says Dr Smith.

ENDS

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