Nick Champion (Wakefield, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am indeed claiming the Barossa Valley—the best bits of it, anyway! I acknowledge the member for Barker’s strong support. He perhaps has proprietary over the Barossa Valley, but I will claim it for myself in this instance.

This bill clearly demonstrates the Labor government’s concern for and cooperation with this important rural industry. It also highlights the government’s ability to effectively utilise policymaking in a manner that not only supports and encourages economic growth through favourable terms of trade but at the same time protects the interests of Australian businesses—in particular, in this case, Australian small businesses. Through the process of listening to industry stakeholders, taking into account their concerns and having the European Community’s concerns registered through bilateral negotiations, the government has successfully preserved Australian wine and winemaking techniques within the agreement with our largest export partner.

This achievement has been suitably recognised by the Australian Wine and Brandy Corporation, the Winemakers Federation and a legislation review committee, all of whom have formally expressed to the minister their support for the bill. The minister is to be commended for his work not just in this area but in a lot of other areas. He has a very good reputation for being a hard worker and someone who is prepared to listen to the primary industries of this country.

I remind the House that Australia is the fourth-largest wine exporter in the world, and we want that to continue. By giving effect to this agreement—the Australia-European Community Agreement on Trade in Wine—this bill clearly seeks to promote and protect in the best sense of the word Australia’s hugely successful wine industry. We boast some of the oldest grapevines in the world. In the Barossa Valley, there are the shiraz vines that were brought all the way from Europe and are the only survivors of a disease that wiped out many of the established European vineyards. Our viticulturalists have developed new vine-management techniques which are now in application throughout the world. All these achievements—and the many others—of the wine industry underpin the necessity of this bill.

In closing I say that this is not the easiest time for the Australian wine industry. There are really difficult economic conditions in many of our export markets. The United Kingdom and the United States have suffered very severe downturns, and this has obviously impacted on our export growth. Slow economic growth across European markets coupled with the appreciation of the Australian dollar provide challenges to any exporter, particularly the wine industry. On top of that, the wine industry has an oversupply of grapes and emerging competition from countries like Chile, Argentina and South Africa.

This bill helps to meet those challenges in part. We know that there is some pretty difficult restructuring to go on and we know that we must move up the value chain if we are to be successful in the future. This bill is particularly important and perhaps marks a bit of a start on that journey. I am glad it protects some of Australia’s most distinguished wine regions, particularly those in my electorate—or adjacent to my electorate, as no doubt the member for Barker will correct me. It is with a great sense of pride in these industries that I commend this bill to the House.

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