Perhaps another way to understand the view from my side of the fence.
This is pertaining to a town in Australia:
A town in Australia has announced plans to restrict cat ownership to two per household as part of a strict new by-law. From early 2020, cats are banned from being outdoors between 8 p.m. and 7 a.m., officials in Mount Barker, a southern Australian town around 20 miles from Adelaide, said on Wednesday.Sep 5, 2019
As you know there are only two kinds of people in this world. Cat people and dog people. I am the former.
Imagine if the government came for your cats, or dogs. Imagine if your neighbors voted/conspired against you or your beloved pet, even if there are legitimate grievances to be made against cats or dogs. Using this context it's easier to see the anger ICE people sometimes feel towards EV people.
I am trying to get over this negativity and I appreciate your continued input, but wanted to share my thoughts as well.
Just a bit of an Australia perspective on this from someone that's lived there. Australia is very protective of native species being an island and historical issues of invasive and destructive species introduction since European discovery and colonization (see cane toad for most known instance). This may sound very liberal to an American, but it is not eco madness. Australia is protecting the native flora and fauna which drive tourism economy and world renowned bio diversity. Being an island there's very unique biospheres which Australia moves to protect - via Bio Security at Federal and State / Territory levels. The bio diversity is quite important to Australia taking just Tourism into example; it is a major asset for the country - but for other sectors of the country.
An example of this recently is TR4 in agriculture, Tropical Race 4 which had the potential to wipe out major if not all Banana production. Bio Security QLD jumped straight on that ASAP. Bio security also participates in things like Swine Flu, Covid etc.
With lessons learned from early colonization and later migration of people to Australia, Bio Security has become quite vigilant and proactive.
Cats are very destructive to native species and there is a national debate on how to handle it long term recognizing the unique value of bio diversity to Australia but also that Australia is generally a Free and Open Country like America, but executed in a different manner.
Dogs can also be an issue esp feral / wild ones, see the Tree Kangaroo for example. Australia in many ways is a wild and untouched land but then almost all the population lives on the coasts in / near the major Capital Cities so there's a spectrum of issues.
Generally there are a lot of invasive species in Aus to manage!
Like America, Australia is diverse and has government at the Federal, State / Territory and Local levels. It is likewise very diverse in geography and landscapes. For example the oldest Rainforest on the planet is the Daintree rainforest in Far North Queensland. Whilst the middle is the red dirt land most often seen in movies / imagined. These areas have very different needs, strength and weakness across economic, natural resource and populations and require different management strategies.
Some areas may look to manage certain risks more stringently than others, such as with Cats, or even rabbits in parts of QLD.
Anyway, the main point here is in spirit of the open discussion, some education / perspective and context as it is easy to see the issue as government vs the rights of the people without some of the other factors involved. Australia tends to try and balance these as much as possible. The government at all levels tends to be open for the most part and seek feedback and involvement in the processes and for almost all things they give the citizenry methods to dispute, appeal, feedback etc.
In your specific example, this was done by a Shire / Council (local government like a municipality in US, but in Aus they often have some responsibilities similar to US states) with what appears balance that can be see re the times the cats should not be outdoors, owners of more than two cats prior to the by law are exempt and they will be culling feral cats (which again are a HUGE problem in Aus).
The shire / council likely would have posted notice of an impending decision, had an open feedback period and even perhaps open council meeting.
BTW, Bio Security QLD is great to deal with. Had multiple instances of invasive species on properties (mainly invasive plant / weed) and they stop by, explain what it is and why they need to do something, give you educational materials, book a time and do their thing very professionally.
Hope this helps for some context and apologies for rambling
