Victorian election: Kangaroo pet food trial to become permanent if Coalition wins

VICTORIA’S kangaroo pet food trial will become permanent if Opposition Leader Matthew Guy becomes Premier later this year.

VICTORIA’S  kangaroo pet food trial will become permanent if Opposition Leader Matthew Guy becomes Premier later this year.

The Liberal Nationals Coalition will today commit to extending the state’s kangaroo pet food trial beyond the current 16 local government areas where it operates so that kangaroos destroyed in any rural regional shire can be turned into pet food.

“The kangaroo pet food industry doesn’t need another extension, it needs certainty,” Nationals leader Peter Walsh told The Weekly Times.

Mr Walsh said about 87,000 kangaroo carcasses that would otherwise be discarded had been processed for the pet food market since the trial began, under the Coalition in 2014.

Mr Walsh said extending the kangaroo pet food program would help farmers, give meat processors confidence and invest in regional jobs.

“In plague numbers, kangaroos cause extensive damage to fences, compete with domestic animals for food and water, and trample crops,” Mr Walsh said.

In 2016, the trial was extended from 12 to 16 local government areas.

The Victorian Government recently committed to carry out its first ever aerial survey of the kangaroo population but has not committed to the trial beyond next month.

Victorian Farmers Federation spokesman Leonard Vallance said farmers would be “delighted” if the trial became permanent.

The Victorian Greens oppose kangaroo harvesting.