FAR-West NSW Nationals MP Kevin Humphries says he is willing to break ranks to kick-start a potential $120 million kangaroo industry he says could rival the rise of goat meat exports.
The member for Barwon and former Minister for Western NSW called on the state’s leaders to tweak game meat laws and move kangaroo harvesting regulations from the Office of Environment and Heritage (OEH) to the Department of Primary Industries (DPI) to encourage processors back into the game.
What’s more, Mr Humphries said he would lead a charge to do so if no-one in the Coalition moved to fix the “broken” system.
“Roos should be in DPI with nearly every other animal we send to an abattoir,” Mr Humphries said.
“Lean meat opportunities are passing us by in the regions and our leaders need to step up to the plate – literally.”
Mr Humphries said shifting responsibility for the roo tagging system and wholesale processing licences to DPI would provide an impetus for harvesters and abattoirs to revive the roo meat trade in NSW - especially in the wake of recent free trade agreements and “plague-like” roo numbers.
The annual NSW harvest quota take is down to 11 per cent despite grey and red roo numbers more than tripling statewide since 2005 to 16 million.
“That is a clear indication of a broken system,” Mr Humphries said.
“The platform is there with beef and lamb, goats we’ve barely scratched the surface on.. and kangaroos are virtually untapped.
“There are plenty of guys out there in Western NSW ready to give it a go - and on current prices we could grow (the industry) from virtually zero to $100 milllion per year, an extra $20 million when skins are taken into account.”
An OEH spokeswoman said the department engaged with the kangaroo industry via the Kangaroo Management Advisory Panel, of which DPI is a member.
DPI, meanwhile, said the key limitation to commercial supply chain growth was export demand for higher value products such as lean meat and skins.
It said low-value products such as meat for pet food or for wild dog baits would not provide economic incentive to maintain a large network of harvesters and processing facilities.
Australia lost the lucrative Russian trade in 2008 due to hygiene concerns but now has kangaroo market access negotiated for 62 countries.
In 2014 kangaroo meat exports were valued at $21 million.
Deputy Prime minister Barnaby Joyce also backs the industry and late last year announced $800,000 funding for small exporters to better access growing Asian markets.
