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Agriculture | May 23, 2019

Kangaroo permits plagued by bureaucratic bungling

Local farmers have contacted The Nationals Member for Lowan Emma Kealy frustrated by bureaucratic bungling with the issuing of tags under the state’s kangaroo pet food program.

“Our local farmers were very relieved to hear in March that the program would continue in its current form for a further six months, but are being increasingly frustrated by lost paperwork and delays with the issuing of tags” Ms Kealy said

“Local farmers and professional shooters have advised me of several cases where their application forms have been “lost”, requiring them to complete Statutory Declarations to enable their application for tags to be processed.

“They are also reporting that the Andrews Labor Government is making fewer tags available to applicants with the explanation being that the program ends in five months.

“One farmer even reported being told ‘he only needed to shoot a couple of kangaroos because it would scare the others and they would all run away and not come back’ which is beyond ridiculous.

“Farmers around some areas of Lowan continue to report kangaroo numbers in plague proportions, with precious fodder they have stored on their farms to keep their livestock alive over winter being eaten by large numbers of kangaroos.

“The delays being caused by this bureaucratic bungling in the processing of applications and issuing of tags are only exacerbating the problem.

“The Andrews Government dithered for months over the program, refusing to guarantee it would be ongoing, and is now under resourcing the program in what appears to be a deliberate attempt to reduce the number of kangaroos being culled under the program.

“Labor urgently needs to improve the process for the issuing of tags to farmers and professional shooters to allow our farmers to manage this ever increasing problem.

“The sustainable management of kangaroos is critical for our region.”