Feral Deer

The Hon. N.J. CENTOFANTI (Leader of the Opposition) (14:45): Supplementary: what collaboration is occurring between the minister's department and the recreational and commercial hunting communities to ensure that this excellent source of protein and food is being utilised at the same time as controlling feral deer numbers?

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN (Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development, Minister for Forest Industries) (14:46): Wherever possible, there is the opportunity to utilise the carcasses. There is obviously a large number of food safety requirements around that. One of the things that has been raised previously is that much of the eradication effort at the moment is going into areas of quite intense scrub where it is quite difficult to then remove the carcasses in a way and of a manner and in the timeframes that would be required for human consumption. However, many of the carcasses, as I have mentioned before, have been used in terms of creating baits and I refer members back to previous comments I have made in this place on that matter.

The PRESIDENT: The Hon. Mr Pangallo, you have a supplementary question.