Article
Cheap Meals Combatting the Cost of Living
Opinion by Phillip Bigg
Every year in Tasmania, licensed hunters harvest wild deer, and other species, as part of normal land and pest management. A lot of that high-quality protein never reaches a plate. At the same time food banks are stretched, meat is the item charities struggle most to supply, and ordinary families are feeling the cost-of-living pinch. So, the obvious question is: why are we still letting good meat go to waste?
New Zealand already answered that question almost 30 years ago. Under their Animal Products Act they run practical donation systems that turn wild game into meals for people who need them. Programs such as Game Changer NZ (run by the Wild Game Recovery Trust), Hunt for Good, Hunters4Hope and the Game Animal Council’s Hunt and Share platform connect hunters, butchers and food banks.
One wild deer can provide around 200 meals.
Hunters4Hope alone has delivered thousands of kilograms of mince – one single drop-off was 1,120 kg. Game Changer supports more than 100 food banks, including dozens of Salvation Army centres. The Salvation Army’s own food security manager has said meat is the number-one request from families and the most expensive item for them to buy.
How do they keep it safe?
New Zealand draws a clear line. Commercial trade of wild meat needs full certification and inspection. Recreational or “homekill” meat cannot be sold, but it can be donated. Recipients know they are accepting it “at their own risk”. On top of that basic rule, voluntary systems add extra layers: free online hunter training and knowledge checks, field-dressing and hygiene guidelines, traceability databases, QR-coded labels that give storage, thawing and cooking advice, and recommendations to use approved processors where possible. The result is real food reaching real people with no major public-health scandals attached to the donation programs.
That is the model the Primary Produce Safety Amendment (Wild Game Meat Donation) Bill 2025 is built on. I drafted it as a ready-to-use template so Tasmania can do the same thing without reinventing the wheel.
The Bill creates two clear pathways.
The regulated path is for larger or more formal schemes. Hunters complete basic free hygiene training, field-dress and chill the animal to set time and temperature standards, tag it for full traceability, and deliver it to an accredited processor. The finished product is clearly labelled “Donated Wild Game Meat – Not for Sale – Processed under Approved Charitable Scheme” and goes only to registered charities and food banks. Annual audits keep everyone honest. Biosecurity, animal welfare and record-keeping rules still apply in full.
The unregulated path is simpler and more flexible. A hunter can hand over processed meat or whole meat – not necessarily a full carcass – straight to a registered charity or food bank. No commercial accreditation is required. The meat is labelled “DONATED WILD GAME – NOT FOR SALE – GIVEN AS IS”. The end user signs a short liability waiver accepting the food as-is and waiving claims against the hunter or the charity. This sits alongside the existing protections already in the Civil Liability Act for food donors.
Both pathways ban any sale.
The Minister can only declare a species eligible after consulting biosecurity experts, hunting and food-relief groups, and the Game Council. Animals showing signs of disease are excluded. A two-year sunset clause forces Parliament to review how it is working.
Food safety sits at the centre of the Bill for a simple reason: it is the first objection most people raise. That is why the regulated path has training, chilling standards, accredited processing and full records, and why the unregulated path has clear labelling and a signed waiver. The same practical approach has been working in New Zealand without the sky falling in.
At the same time the Bill helps with cost of living and food security by moving free, high-quality protein into the hands of people who need it. And it supports the management of wild deer and wallaby numbers that already happens every season – only this time the meat is not left behind.
People will raise other concerns – lead from ammunition, liability, biosecurity, or whether it undermines farmed venison. Lead is a known issue with traditional bullets anywhere in the world; it is managed by hunter education and trimming. Liability is covered by the waiver plus existing law. Biosecurity is written into the declaration process and the Biosecurity Act. And because sale is banned and distribution is limited to registered charities, it does not create a commercial market.
During the Great Depression, rabbits – “underground mutton” – helped feed countless Australian families when times were hard. Ordinary people hunting for the community was normal and necessary. That same community-feeding-community instinct is what this Bill is about.
The Bill is not complicated. It is a practical template modelled on a system that is already delivering tens of thousands of meals in New Zealand. Hunters are already out there doing the work. This simply lets the meat they harvest do some good instead of going to waste. That is the kind of common-sense, community-minded outcome Tasmania needs right now.
I took real pride in sitting down, writing this draft Bill and sending it to every member of Parliament. It is a practical solution ready to go. Seven months later, very few MPs have even acknowledged receiving it. The Bill is sitting there. It works in New Zealand. It can work here. Let’s stop talking and get on with it.
Draft Bill – Primary Produce Safety Amendment (Wild Game Meat Donation) Bill 2025
Successful New Zealand Programs
Game Changer NZ (Wild Game Recovery Trust)
Hunt and Share (NZ Game Animal Council)
Food Safety & Regulatory Framework in NZ
MPI Risks, restrictions and rules for wild food
Homekill and recreational catch requirements
Phillip Bigg is the Tasmanian State President of the Shooters Union of Australia.
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