A ban on the sale and import of kangaroo products is set to be reimposed in California on January 1, despite controversial efforts by the Australian Government to have the restriction permanently lifted.

Key points: California banned the importation of kangaroo products in 1971

California banned the importation of kangaroo products in 1971 A moratorium on that ban is set to end

A moratorium on that ban is set to end Australia criticised for helping fund lobbying to fight ban

The Australian Government believes there are 600 retailers selling kangaroo products in California, including meat, pet food and leather products such as football shoes and some gloves used by fire fighters.

It has been illegal to import kangaroo products to California since 1971, but in 2007 a moratorium was placed on that ban, largely due to the lobbying efforts of sportswear companies that wanted to sell football shoes made from kangaroo hides.

The moratorium is due to end on January 1, 2016 and violators could face fines or prison sentences.

Animal rights groups in California have said the ban should never have been suspended.

"These iconic species in Australia really should not be killed in such staggering numbers for something as frivolous as shoes and pet food," Humane Society of the United States lobbyist Jennifer Fearing said.

Supporters of kangaroo harvesting say the practice is science-based and environmentally sustainable while critics say it is a threat to the animals' survival.

Alan Brady has been involved in the kangaroo harvesting industry for much of his working life, based in southern Queensland for a number of processing works and as a professional kangaroo shooter.

Mr Brady said he was not surprised the Californian ban on roo products had been re-instated but was adamant that the animals were harvested humanely.

"There is big pressure, to sell a kangaroo it has to be head-shot, it cannot be shot anywhere else, shooters must have approved gear and that really does count," he said.

"A head-shot to the brain is the most humane way you could kill anything."

Government helped fund industry lobbying

The Kangaroo Industry Association of Australia (KIAA) said the annual retail value of the kangaroo product sales in California was about $200 million.

"It is a fairly substantial trade of product," the association's executive officer, John Kelly, said.

"It will have an impact in Australia, but the industry will regroup and find markets elsewhere.

"It is California that will miss out on retail opportunities."

The Australian Government has been fighting to try to prevent the ban from being reinstated.

Through the Department of Agriculture, the Australian Government gave the KIAA a grant of $143,000 to put towards funding Californian lobbying firm Manatt, Phelps and Phillips to work on permanently lifting the ban.

In September, California assembly member Mike Gipson used a tactic known as "gut and amend" to swap a bill dealing with gambling that had already reached the Senate floor with legislation to repeal the kangaroo product ban.

His effort to pass the new legislation failed.

The Australian Government has been criticised for funding a lobbying firm to fight the reinstatement of the ban on selling kangaroo products in California. ( David Flannery: User submitted )

Australian Government facing investigation

The Australian Government is now under investigation for possibly violating Californian law through its lobbying efforts.

A complaint lodged with the Fair Political Practices Commission said the payment by the Australian Government for the KIAA to engage Manatt, Phelps and Philips "appears to be a clear attempt to obscure a foreign government's lobbying activities to repeal a necessary animal protection statute".

"Foreign governments must use diplomatic negotiations to influence trade politics, but the Government of Australia has instead avoided transparency and funnelled money through an Australian trade association in order to directly impact the legislative debate in California," the complaint from a member of the environmental group, the Food Empowerment Project, said.

A spokesman for the Australian Department of Agriculture and Water Resources said the Government had responded to the commission and was working to "clarify the allegation of misreporting and establish the most appropriate way forward".

Humane Society lobbyist Jennifer Fearing said the Australian Government's tactics were "secret, illegitimate, inappropriate ways that were meant to prevent a full public conversation".

The KIAA said the campaign was conducted in the open with the full knowledge of Californian politicians.

"It was done in consultation with them, and the Australian Government simply supported the industry in our activities and was unaware of the need to declare as it ... apparently should have done in the Californian system," Mr Kelly said.

The industry will renew its efforts to permanently lift the ban in 2016, he said.

Industry will fight to export to California

Mr Kelly said while the trade into California was not large it was an important market and the industry did not want to be locked out because of action by animal activists.

"We don't want to let this market go," he said.

"We don't want to let the animal liberationists have a supposed win, which they claim to have achieved, but it was little to do with them — it was more to do with Californian politics."

Mr Kelly conceded that a ban by Californian authorities could send unwanted messages to other trading partners.

"That's its principal importance to us, that's the principal reason why we are redoubling our efforts in January to secure long term access to California," he said.