Tony Pasin (Barker, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Infrastructure and Transport) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to voice my complete disbelief regarding this government's failure to support the Australian wine and grape-growing sector. Governments across the world are helping wine grape growers to restructure their local industry and address the supply and demand imbalance within the global wine market, but here in Australia this Labor government is trying to mislead growers into believing their future lies in the wine markets of China. That's not where this issue is going to be solved. This is an act of either gross dishonesty or rampant ignorance.

The reality is that the current surplus of Australia wine is about 10 times what we sold to China pre the COVID peak, and the market today is very different than it was then. Wine consumption in China is about half what it was pre-COVID—in fact, around the world there are fewer drinkers and they're drinking less wine. The Australian wine industry can't trade its way out of this crisis. By ignoring the industry's calls for assistance—the minister doesn't even know the calls exist—the government has not only hamstrung an industry that wants to move forward sustainably but turned its back on regional communities like those in the Riverland.

Those opposite fail to understand that, when you allow farmers to go broke, regional towns die. From our sheep farmers to our wine grape growers, this Labor government is killing the regions.

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