Amanda Rishworth (Kingston, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak in favour of the Australian Wine and Brandy Corporation Amendment Bill 2009. This bill is very important to many of my constituents in the seat of Kingston. As I have mentioned many times before, the electorate of Kingston contains the regions of McLaren Vale and Willunga. I have introduced many members of the House to McLaren Vale wine, and McLaren Vale is one of the premium wine-producing regions in this country. The changes to the laws in front of us today with regard to the wine trade are of particular significance and will be welcomed by grape growers, winemakers and wine lovers everywhere.

As the previous speaker mentioned, the wine industry in South Australia is facing some significant challenges, including water, the grape glut and the value of the Australian dollar, which is affecting exports. I commend the growers and winemakers of McLaren Vale because they have really risen to the challenge. While a lot of other winemaking regions around Australia continue to discuss how they might meet the challenges of a lack of water, the winemakers and grape growers of McLaren Vale got active and worked with other companies, the local council, the state government and the federal government to get recycled water to the vineyards. I will not use the term that has often been bandied about in media releases, but it is about turning ‘something’ into shiraz. It is about turning effluent into water for the grapes of McLaren Vale. This is an example of the growers and winemakers of McLaren Vale being at the forefront of looking at what they can do to secure their future.

As I said, things are difficult at the moment, but I have great confidence in the industry. I was very pleased to recently attend the launch of the sustainability program that McLaren Vale is looking at. They are looking at becoming certified as sustainable so that vineyards and winemakers will be able to label their products as ‘certified sustainable’. That is really important and I know they are really working on that. I just wanted to do a bit of a plug for McLaren Vale because it is a wonderful region. I would encourage all members to visit, and I am happy to give you a guided tour at any time. It is a wonderful place.

In all seriousness, I come back to some specific elements of this bill in terms of Australia’s agreement with the European Community on the trade in wine. This is a significant agreement and I must congratulate the minister for securing the negotiations. The minister has done a lot of work, including signing agreements with Hong Kong and China to ensure access to those markets for Australian wine. Agreements like these make a real difference to growers and winemakers in Kingston. I thank the minister also for visiting the McLaren Vale region and speaking with growers and winemakers on many occasions. He has certainly shown a very active interest in my local area.

The Australian Wine and Brandy Corporation Amendment Bill includes a whole raft of measures for the industry. These benefits flow both ways in our wine trade. Some will be felt here at home by consumers of Australian and European wines. Any measures that make it easier for someone in Europe to identify and buy a McLaren Vale shiraz must be a good thing.

The first key change provided for in this bill is the European recognition of an additional 16 Australian winemaking techniques and the institutionalisation of a process for future approval of winemaking techniques as they evolve. For a country with a cutting-edge industry this agreement is particularly important so that our evolving and world-best winemaking practice is both recognised and enjoyed by European consumers.

The agreement includes a provision for simplified labelling of geographical indications. Most consumers of wine will know that geographical indications—the GIs—are very important in the labelling of wine, and guide a whole lot of decisions in the purchase of wines. This bill simplifies the labelling requirements of Australian wine in Europe and accords protection to Australia’s existing 112 registered geographical indications. These amendments will ensure the protection of Australia’s GIs in Europe and see that the translation of GIs from Europe meets Australia’s international obligations under the World Trade Organization Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of International Property Rights. The amendments provide rules for the protection of European GIs and the translation of European GIs from their source country language. The amendments also provide rules to cover the traditional expressions used by European winemakers in their labelling.

Finally, the bill also introduces provisions for determining GIs. All of these changes are very important when you consider the significance of GIs that have already been given, such as champagne. One practice that will be stamped out by this bill is the misleading and deceptive use of GIs in some of the European wine labelling. I know that many consumers get confused. Confusion is not used often by European winemakers in their labelling practices but it does happen and these amendments resolve issues around the meaning of false, misleading and deceptive practices, traditional expressions and protected terms, including providing exceptions for common English words in the false and misleading provisions relating to the sale, export or import of wine. This should prevent European winemakers using technicalities to label their wine as coming from a region when it does not, and should reduce the confusion for Australian wine consumers.

A technical amendment relating to the European community agreement is the replacement of the previous register for protected names with a new register of protected geographical indications and other terms. This change is important to bring into practice everything I have been discussing and will ensure the protection of GIs, traditional expressions, wine quality terms and additional terms, so that the Australian consumer is not duped by misleading labelling. I have to say that this bill has been welcomed. I know that some people want to get better at wine tasting and start to learn what all the experts are talking about when they use words like ‘peppery’. Certainly, I think that clearer labelling of the types of wine that people are drinking can only enhance the experience for consumers.

Before I conclude, I want to briefly mention the non-agreement related amendments introduced by this bill. The first is the strengthening of the Label Integrity Program for a system that will allow the Australian Wine and Brandy Corporation to trace a batch of wine from the retailer to the vineyard and confirm that the details that appear on the label are consistent at each point of the supply chain. These amendments will be important in maintaining the positive perception of Australian wine both domestically and internationally. An extension of the Label Integrity Program will mean that Australian and European wine consumers can be confident of the accuracy of claims regarding vintage, variety or region of origin.

In addition to these changes, the bill provides for a broader range of injunction powers for the Australian Wine and Brandy Corporation so that it can deal with anyone engaging in conduct that compromises the integrity of the Australian wine industry. We do know that the Australian wine industry has a very good reputation overseas as well as here in Australia. This measure is important to make sure that that reputation is not compromised.

In conclusion, the Australian wine industry includes over 2,200 winemakers supported by 8,000 grape growers in 112 distinct geographical wine regions. These winemakers and grape growers and Australian consumers will welcome this bill. The bill will ensure that the integrity the Australian wine industry enjoys will be maintained both here in Australia and, importantly, in the export market in Europe. It will also ensure that consumers here in Australia can be confident that wine coming from Europe is exactly what the label says it is. I commend the bill to the House.

See this speech in context