The South Burnett Regional Council has become an associate member of Murri Munchies Ltd, a not-for-profit alliance of Wide Bay Burnett indigenous people which wants to create an Australian bush tucker industry.
The SBRC voted to become members at yesterday’s monthly Council meeting, at a cost of $250 per annum.
The Murri Munchies project was incorporated in May 2012 and is led by project manager Andrew Normoyle, an indigenous man with experience in food technology and production,
Murri Munchies wants to ensure that producing native bush foods for for the market is sustainable, yet remains faithful to Aboriginal culture.
The group also wants to help amalgamate individual bush food suppliers into a bigger, more unified supply chain.
“The ‘Feasibility of a Sustainable Bush Food Industry in Western Queensland’ report prepared for the Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation in 1997 indicated that most of the major companies purchasing bush foods prefer to purchase from one organisation rather than small amounts from a number of suppliers,” Mr Normoyle said.
Murri Munchies’ own research has shown that the Australian bush foods industry has the capacity to expand significantly if the two major hurdles of guaranteed supply and uniform quality can be overcome.
The group believes they can do this, partly through expanding the number of indigenous bush food suppliers, and partly through introducing Quality Assurance systems.
The Australian native food industry is currently valued at $16 million.
“Indigenous people and communities in our region have a thirst for economic stability and a quality of life that supports their traditional culture,” Mr Normoyle said.
“Murri Munchies aim is to operate in culturally sensitive ways to ensure the traditional culture of communities isn’t lost.
“We are now looking for more people to sign on from all indigenous communities, as well as from non-indigenous organisations that can support our members with expertise, funding and resources.”
For more information, contact Andrew Normoyle by email.
