15 April 2021

Probing the polls: what makes a real hot cross bun and disputes on dog rego

| Genevieve Jacobs
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Corgi

Should we register our dogs annually for their welfare? Photo: Supplied.

They may well appear in the shops from Australia Day and come in multiple flavours these days, but RiotACT readers are surprisingly and strongly devoted to traditional hot cross buns.

Here at Region Media HQ, we diligently trialled several traditional varieties from bakeries and supermarkets, ranging from artisan sourdough to chocolate studded delicacies. It was hard work, but we ploughed through over the course of several days and a lot of butter.

Still undecided, we put the question to readers. We asked What makes a real hot cross bun? A total of 684 readers voted.

Your voting choices were Chocolate for me, I couldn’t care less about the “rules”. This received a low 20 per cent of the total, or 135 votes.

The clear winner was the alternate choice, Tradition rules: fruit and spice only, please. This received 80 per cent of the total, or 549 votes.

This week, the ACT Government announced a new digital dog database that will require dog owners to check and update their pet’s registration details each year – at no additional cost and prompted by a reminder.

City Services Minister Chris Steel said there will be no additional costs for Canberrans who register their pets on time. Annual registration is intended to ensure that the government has up-to-date information on dogs and will address the challenges with lifetime registration when owners rarely tell the government when they change address or phone number, transfer their dog’s ownership to someone else or their pet dies.

“It seems bizarre to me that people can purchase animals for less money than they would spend on eating out in a month, and that there is no validation process to check whether the animal’s wellbeing and welfare will be adequately provided for by its new owners,” columnist Zoya Patel wrote.

READ ALSO People barking their protest at dog registration requirements probably shouldn’t own a pet

Some agreed. Darienne said: “Fantastic idea, will help keep a lot of lost dogs out of the pound.”

Kate Cuthbert concurred: “Hopefully, being free, people will actually register their dogs now! I’m sure if a reminder is sent it won’t be an issue. Those that are already registered, will we need to redo it to be up to date?”

But there was opposition.

Jaffa said: “Didn’t they abolish dog registration about 2004/5 because it was too costly and because microchipped dogs were already traceable. Sounds like a sop to the dog haters that all taxpayers will wear.”

Rosalind Turner asked: “Can we get kids registered too? Maybe microchipped? Then when they’re found wandering the streets up to no good, a quick scan and you’ve got their details to boot their butts back home. Three times caught and they have to do community service. Sounds good to me!”

Our poll question this week is:

Should we register dogs annually?

View Results

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