Colin Boyce (Flynn, Liberal National Party) Share this | Hansard source

From 5 August prices rose two per cent on spirits and beer products. As the industry pointed out, this tax is 'a pain in the glass'. The expectation is that the tax will jack up the price of a schooner of beer at your local pub or club by about a dollar to more than $10.

I rise to support the member for Cowper's motion today, as I too acknowledge that the beer and spirits excise is unsustainable for our pubs and clubs and our hospitality industry in general. The motion notes that successive biannual increases in beer and spirits excise on alcohol now see Australia having amongst the highest excises in the world. Combined with the cost-of-living pressures, increased costs in energy, refrigeration, wages, raw materials and transport, the cost of alcohol products has risen substantially. The excise regime is now putting at risk the viability of Australian distillers, brewers, distributors, pubs, clubs and related industries. The excise regime is untenable against the current global backdrop, with crucial trading partners, including Japan, the United Kingdom and Canada, already moving to freeze alcohol excise duties to relieve the pressure on their domestic industries.

This is what the industry has said about the tax increase. The Australian Distillers Association's chief executive, Paul McLeay, said:

The continued Government inaction on this issue is incredibly frustrating for our industry, which already contributes $15.5bn in added value to the Australian economy and supports more than 100,000 jobs …

He stressed that a freeze on spirits tax was urgently needed, along with a partnering of the federal government with industry to create an export body for spirits, as has been successfully done with the wine industry in Australia over recent decades. Craig Michael, the director of Bellarine gin distillery in Victoria, added that his business now faces taxes that are $25 a litre greater than when the company began in 2015. Mr Michael said:

These six-monthly increases are becoming increasingly difficult for our business to sustain, and they are impossible to plan for …

How can we accurately undertake financial modelling and make business decisions if we don't know what tax rate we will be paying in six months' time?

The Australian beer sector representatives are also worried about how continuously increasing duties will affect smaller businesses specifically. According to the Independent Brewers Association, while the excise increase will not be pose problems for the 'foreign-owned duopoly that controls the Australian beer market', smaller brewers 'cannot keep absorbing the ballooning costs of making beer without increasing the price of their beer', and this means that 'being able to support your local will be soon out of reach for many, and job losses will continue'. He added that:

Every cent that independent brewers spend on excise is money they cannot invest back into their staff, innovation, sustainability or supporting their communities.

And that:

They also do not want to pass these costs on to consumers, but they may be forced to as the cost of materials, energy and freight are still making it almost impossible to keep these Australian owned small businesses alive.

The IBA also pointed to the excise relief measures for craft brewers in place in the UK and Canada as examples of local governments that understand the value of the industries that they bring to their communities. The excise increase marks hikes of more than 10 per cent since the last federal election, according to the Brewers Association of Australia, which its CEO, John Preston, said 'shows that these tax hikes are becoming out of control'.

The only thing more Australian than a fair go is Bundaberg Rum. The Bundaberg Rum distillery in Bundaberg East is a stone's throw away from my electorate of Flynn. So when 63 per cent of the cost of a bottle of Bundaberg Rum is taxed I reckon that's 100 per cent un-Australian. The Australian spirits tax is currently the third-highest in the world. The spirits industry alone will pay $5 billion in excise this year in Australia, and this tax continues to grow twice a year every year.

Don't grin and bear the tax on Bundy. I'm calling on the Labor government to give a fair go to Bundaberg Rum lovers and beer and spirit drinkers across Central Queensland and put a stop to these unnecessary price increases. I call on the Labor government to provide an immediate cost-of-living measure for the domestic beer and spirits industry.

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