Tuesday 1 October 2019
Changes to the kangaroo pet food program announced today by the Andrews Labor Government risk tangling farmers, professional shooters and pet food processors up in red tape.
After five years of delayed extensions and uncertainty under Daniel Andrews, the permanent program, which starts today, will not allow kangaroos controlled with an Authority to Control Wildlife (ATCW) permit to be processed for pet food.
The successful trial program run by the former Liberal Nationals government proved the ATCW system met traceability and biosecurity requirements.
By excluding carcasses controlled under the ATCW permit, Labor’s Kangaroo Harvesting Program will see carcasses again left in the paddock to rot, wasting the resource and feeding up wild dogs and foxes.
Comment attributable to Shadow Minister for Agriculture Peter Walsh
A permanent program is long overdue and desperately needed to control exploding kangaroo populations.
The kangaroo pet food industry thrived when first set up by the former Liberal Nationals government in 2014, but it’s struggled through five years of delays and uncertainty under Daniel Andrews.
It’s absurd that kangaroos controlled under an Authority to Control Wildlife permit will now be left in the paddock to rot, feeding up wild dogs and foxes.
After the Andrews Labor Government’s lacklustre approach to this program over the past five years, it remains to be seen if the latest changes will work or if processors, hunters and farmers are just being wrapped up in more red tape.