Labor bans hunters from sharing game meat

Victorian hunters will be banned from sharing their kills with friends and neighbours, with one MP saying “these city centric people haven’t thought this through”.

Hunters who process their own game, such as venison, will no longer be able to share their wild harvest with friends and neighbours.

Hunters will be banned from sharing their kills with friends and neighbours, bringing them into line with Meat Industry Act restrictions on farmers sharing meat from livestock slaughtered on their properties.

The Agriculture Legislation Amendment Bill 2022 currently before Parliament states “a person must not dispose of game meat for human consumption”, unless the meat has been processed at a licensed facility.

Hunters will still be able to process deer and other game themselves or send it to “a meat processing facility that solely processes game not intended for sale”, but only for personal use.

The move has not phased the Sporting Shooters Association of Australia’s Victorian division, whose spokesman Barry Howlett said “these changes were not intended to capture people in a social setting” sharing game meat”, although “I wish the government would come out and say that”.

There are also doubts as to whether the proposed ban on sharing meat would ever be policed.

However Liberal Democrats Upper House MP Tim Quilty said that while the government may not enforce the new rules immediately, “these city centric people haven’t thought this through”.

During debate on the bill late last month Liberal MP Gordon Rich-Phillips asked Labor Government MPs whether a hunter giving two duck breasts to a neighbour was an offence.

Labor’s Upper House deputy leader Gayle Tierney said: “I am advised that, yes, that is the case.

“Essentially, meat needs to be inspected so it is safe for consumption.”

Mr Rich-Phillips then asked: “For the avoidance of doubt, would that include guests of the household if people came over for a dinner party, (to eat game) that sort of scenario?”

Ms Tierney said “the advice is that if people did come over for dinner, yes, they could partake in the product. But they would not be able to take it from the residence”.

Ultimately the bill demands hunters follow the same rules as farmers, who are able to slaughter livestock on their properties for personal use, but not for sale or to share with anyone outside the property.

The Meat Industry Act exempts the slaughter of an animal for personal consumption on a farm, as long as it is not removed or sold from the property.

Mr Howlett said the restrictions on the sale and sharing of meat had “been in place for commercial livestock for at least the last 25 years”, without creating any major problems.

Parliament is still considering the bill.