As world leaders struggle in Seattle to start a new round of global free-trade talks, New Zealand's junior governing partner is eyeing the humble possum for jobs and wealth creation.
Alliance leader Jim Anderton is drawing his inspiration not from the World Trade Organisation but from the Nelson A & P show, where he saw a machine stripping fur from dead possums to be blended with merino wool.
The Snowy Peak company and others are turning the fibre into export textiles and garments.
Mr Anderton is dismayed they cannot get enough possum skins, and wants the Government to help.
He said yesterday that possum industry leaders had told him that, with Government assistance, they could create 1000 jobs within months - as well as wiping out millions of pests.
Otago possum skin merchant Chris Taylor said no simple fix existed for an industry that 10 years ago employed 10,000 trappers but would now be lucky to have 100.
The industry exported about three million skins a year at its peak, but had been hard hit by the strong dollar and the collapse of major markets.
He welcomed Mr Anderton's interest, but said fibre processors could afford to pay only $2 a skin, while the state was squandering millions of dollars a year on aerial poison drops.
Dave McKinstry, of West Coast company Possum Pam, said even a Government bounty of $1 a skin would go a long way towards resurrecting the industry.
Possum power fuels jobs dream
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.