Overview
- NSW will create a specific offence for leaving a dog in a hot vehicle, proposing penalties of up to $44,000 or one year in prison.
- The government plans to set time and temperature thresholds to make prosecutions easier, with limits still to be decided after reviewing other states’ rules.
- Use of prong collars would be banned with similar penalties, closing loopholes on devices that injure dogs when they pull.
- Penalties for facilitating animal fights would rise to fines of up to $110,000 and prison terms of up to two years, with NSW Police supported to enforce offences linked to organised crime.
- Inspectors would gain clearer powers to provide pain relief and authorise emergency euthanasia, possession of illegal glue traps would become an offence, and police and welfare agencies would enforce the laws as the bill heads to parliament in the first half of 2026.