Young dog taken by huge croc near Innisfail

 Two days after a huge crocodile devoured a six-month-old puppy in North Queensland, the major parties have refused to declare KAP’s Safer Waterways bill as urgent.

 KAP’s Shane Knuth today sought leave to fast track the Safer Waterways bill so it could be voted on by October. Labor and the LNP ganged up to block Shane’s request, meaning Queensland will have to wait until at least the end of March next year for a vote.

 In seeking leave, Shane read out a letter from a constituent (who did not want to be named):

LNP an ALP refuse to fast track KAP’s crocodile legislation, leaving more North Queenslanders to be eaten by crocs

 “We live on the banks of the South Johnstone River in Mourilyan, North Queensland. On Tuesday afternoon we lost our six-month-old purebred white Sheppard to a very large crocodile. As we live very close to the river our dog had gone down to the water’s edge, failing to call her up to our yard we went down to try and get her when the crocodile just so quietly grabbed her and took her into the water. This was absolutely terrifying for both my partner and myself as we weren’t aware it was there and it could easily have been us.

 About half hour or so after our puppy was taken on Tuesday, we were sitting there looking over the river when another two crocs showed up! It was like feeding time at the zoo.

 Please help us to do something about these monsters, we need dogs for security reasons, but it’s simply too dangerous for them and traumatic for us.”

 It’s the second puppy they’ve lost to a crocodile on their property in less than a year.

 Shane Knuth introduced the Safer Waterways bill on 25 May. The legislation would make it mandatory for rogue crocodiles to be removed from populated Queensland waterways. It would also empower landowners to manage crocodiles on their own land.

 “I cannot believe that Labor and the LNP don’t think this urgent,” Shane said. “This is clearly a safety issue. This family’s puppy being eaten on Tuesday is not an isolated incident.”

 Shane tabled four news articles from the last 12 months; Croc kills family dog in Innisfail; Croc kills spear fisherman in Palmer point; Croc kills tourist at Thornton Beach; Report confirms that Queensland’s saltwater crocodile populations are rising.

 “If someone else is killed by a crocodile, the government and LNP will have a lot of explaining to do. We need to act now,” Shane said.