From: Martin Harvey <martin@jacksonracing.com.au>
Date: 20 October 2010 3:39:58 PM
To: ted.baillieu@parliament.vic.gov.au, john.brumby@parliament.vic.gov.au, office@vic.greens.org.au
Subject: Press Release- Jackson Equipment

For Immediate Release

Victorian motorcycle clothing manufacturer calls on government to stop needless waste of world's best leather

In the lead up to the election, a Victorian business specialising in motorcycle safety equipment is demanding to know why the kangaroos culled every year in Victoria are left to rot. For many years all the top race suits have been made from kangaroo leather as it is the strongest lightest skin, suited perfectly to this use. Every year tens of thousands of kangaroos are culled here, legally and ethically, numbers strictly controlled to sustainable levels, research is constant but in certain locations, annual culling is a neccesity . State law forbids any use of skin or meat.

Jackson Equipment have been been buying skins from Queensland to produce clothing for motorcyclists, not just for racers but also for street motorcyclists. As anyone who watches TV or reads newspapers knows, the present government (through TAC) pay an absolute fortune advertising the need for motorcyclists to be protected by the right gear. That the right gear is decreed by law to be left to rot where it is shot seems to have gone over their heads. Of particular interest are the numbers, they certainly don't need any more kangaroos to be shot, the current number would clothe every motorcyclist in Australia. The added fact that Jackson Equipment have recently appointed distributors for their Rooskin range in the US, UK and now New Zealand too should interest them too, export dollars and safer motorcyclists.

In an age where the words recycle, reuse, sustainability and most importantly WASTE, are bounded about by politicians, Jackson CEO Martin Harvey would like a simple answer . Does it really make sense to force a Victorian business to pay for skins from Queensland whilst the same (if not better) product is rotting under his nose ?.
Although it is sad these animals must be culled, would it not be better if their deaths were to contribute to the saving of human life ?, a final gift .
The valuable resource we must not waste.

www.jacksonracing.com.au

Tel 03 59863029