Sussan Ley (Farrer, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Women) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to highlight concerns for wine growers across the Riverina and Murray Valley in my electorate of Farrar, the largest wine-producing region in New South Wales. The ongoing wine tariff imposed from China has doubled a problem for the industry that our government must address. The four-year Chinese freeze and other supply chain hold-ups are causing a massive oversupply of mainly red wine grapes, leaving a monumental supply-and-demand imbalance. Bulk prices sit as low as 25c a litre, falling well below the cost of production. Rising inflation has also caused manufacturing input costs to rise. Unrest in the Middle East is affecting shipping to other markets. Also, unhelpfully, growers are now unsure of the price of water, with the federal government re-entering the market with buy-backs but not disclosing the price.

We hope, of course, the 200 per cent tariffs undertaken by Beijing will be lifted, regardless of other factors, but a new mandatory code of conduct is needed through the entire supply chain. That's what my growers believe; that's what they deserve. Some farmers will also need financial assistance to transition. They also need backing to remove and distil old and degraded wine caught up in the supply logjam. To date this government's answer has been handballing impacted wine growers off to broad rural assistance programs. More needs to be done. I am committed to seeing that occur. I stand by my wine growers across the Riverina and the Murray.

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