Brett Raguse (Forde, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise tonight to speak in support of the Australian Wine and Brandy Corporation Amendment Bill 2009. This is a bill of significant interest certainly to my electorate of Forde, which contains nearly a dozen Gold Coast hinterland wineries that produce a variety of table wines, including fortifieds and spirits. I commend the previous speaker, the member for Barker, for his presentation. He is a South Australian, and we always hear South Australians are well versed on the wine industry, and certainly it is a big part of their culture. With many experts, when they talk about wine, there is always a lot of levity. Even in this chamber tonight there has been levity when talking about wine, because it certainly does represent for Australians part of our recreation and our entertainment. But certainly the quality of the wine this country produces is very important.

As I said, I commend the member for Barker, and also the member for Tangney, who is also here, for talking about South Australian wines versus Western Australian wines. But the member for Bowman, who sits across the chamber, and I, being from Queensland, are rightfully proud of what the Queensland industry has been able to achieve, certainly in the past 20 to 30 years. I often watch wine shows when they are on TV, but I often wonder about the South Australians and the Western Australians. They drink their wine and then they spit it out. We do not do that in Queensland, we drink the whole lot. A little bit of humour, but the reality is that the wine industry and its growth has been very important for all of us. There is a famous actor who once said that a day without wine is like a day without sunshine. The reality is that it is a supplement or a complement to our gastronomical delights and our eating.

The Australian Wine and Brandy Corporation, or the AWBC, dates back to 1981 when it replaced the Australian Wine Board, itself a label introduced back in 1936. The AWBC continues to play an important role today in Australian wine industry promotion, coordination and research. In his second reading speech, the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry outlined the three objectives: allowing the recent Australia European Community, or EC, agreement on trade to come into force; improve the label integrity program; and update compliance provisions from the act. I will review each of these objectives separately.

The first wine agreement between Australia and the European Community came into life under the Keating government in 1994. Since this time it has become apparent that revisions were needed to resolve issues faced by both sides of the agreement. Signed on 1 December 2008 in Brussels by our Minister for Foreign Affairs, Stephen Smith, and the European commissioner for agriculture, Mariann Fischer Boel, the new agreement has been carefully negotiated over an incredible 14 years. The Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry notes the following benefits of the new agreement for Australia:

• European recognition of an additional 16 Australian winemaking techniques…
• Simpler arrangements for the approval of winemaking techniques that may be developed in the future
• Simplified labelling requirements …
• Protection within Europe for Australia’s 112 registered geographical indicators—

or GIs, and that wholesalers will have five years to sell stock labelled with an EC GI, and retailers will be able to sell all of their stock. There will also be a defined use of a number of quality terms in the presentation and description of wine.

The Winemakers Federation of Australia has also supported the new agreement, particularly noting the recognition of winemaking techniques and the simplified procedures for approving new winemaking techniques. The first schedule of this bill contains provisions to bring this agreement into force. Among many significant changes, the bill protects the unique identity of Australian geographical indications, or GIs, which indicate particular winemaking locations; provides rules for translation of foreign country GIs and traditional expressions; resolves a series of issues relating to false, misleading and deceptive GI practices; modifies the Trade Marks Act 1995 to ensure consistency with the AWBC Act; clarifies situations where common English words may be used to describe GIs; and places responsibility for determining GIs with a new, independent geographical indications committee, or GIC.

This agreement will bring about even closer ties with countries that are already among our biggest export markets. By value, during the 2008-09 financial year, 43.2 per cent of Australia’s wine exports went to Europe. That represented up to 14 countries in the European community who are very much in love with Australian wines. Australian wine has a good reputation for clear, consistent labelling. Schedule 2 of this bill has the objective of further strengthening our processes in this area so that people can be certain that our wine labels are truthful and accurate. At the moment the Label Integrity Program applies to wine manufacturers but not to other parties in the wine supply chain. Record-keeping requirements are to be extended beyond wine manufacturers to those involved in the distribution and sale of wine and grapes. In most cases, existing documentation will suffice in complying with these legislative changes. Retailers and other endpoint sellers only have to keep records of total quantity and vintage, not individual sales. Once in place, the AWBC will make it possible to verify wine label claims via the records kept by all participants in the wine supply chain. The trail will be auditable from the point where the grapes are harvested to the point of the sale of the wine. Furthermore, a new offence is proposed for a person to make a claim about a vintage variety of GI of a wine product when this claim is not supported by their records.

The third and final section of the bill strengthens the powers of the AWBC to deal with people taking actions that may be contrary to the AWBC Act. As noted by the Minister for Agricultural, Fisheries and Forestry in his second reading speech, the bill proposes that the AWBC be able to apply for an injunction to stop or direct a person who is acting in a way that is contrary to the Label Integrity Program, the provisions relating to the protection of geographical indications and other terms, the export control offence provision or the regulations made for the purposes of these provisions. The bill also modernises the applications of penalties by referring to penalty units rather than fixed dollar amounts. These changes will ensure that not only do we have a modern internationally recognised system in place but also that we can enforce it when needed.

The Queensland government has had an encouraging and increasing interest in winemaking and recognises the importance of the growing of the wine grape within Queensland. In 2004 Margaret Keech, one of my local state members, was appointed Minister for Tourism, Fair Trading and Wine Industry Development and Minister for Women. As minister, Margaret Keech oversaw the formation of the Queensland Wine Industry Development Strategy and many other actions to support that industry. Within my electorate, I am fortunate to have areas of the Gold Coast hinterland, which is a relatively recent but now established wine region within southern Queensland. This region is the glorious Tamborine Mountain. Over the last 20 years Tamborine Mountain has become an increasingly popular tourist attraction, with the wineries being one of the main attractions. It is no surprise, seeing the rapid local expansion, to see that the 2025 Australian target of 4.5 billion in annual wine sector sales was actually surpassed in 2005. This target was set in 1996 and was achieved in under one-third the expected time frame.

The wine industry’s connection with our entertainment and leisure industries within Australia not only makes it very much a local product but also an export market that we so enjoy. I see the South Australian member over there, the member for Mayo—who is certainly well aware of the wine industry in his own region and would certainly understand the development of wine in Queensland—talking about, with some hilarity, how we grow wine and consume wine in Queensland. This is an industry that grew in a region that had no history—when you look at South Australia and its long, long history, we have done exceptionally well. Many years ago, when travelling to places within South-East Queensland, in Stanthorpe, and just as there is hilarity across the chamber right now, if you talked about a Stanthorpe wine people would laugh. People would say Queensland wines do not really stack up to much. The reality is, if you go back 30 years in that region, they decided that it was an area that grew grapes, but of the table grape variety. They really did not have the knowledge or ability to grow grapes or to make wine. About 25 years ago, a local winemaker in Stanthorpe, who had come from the Hunter region, decided to set up Old Caves Winery. That was very much the starting point for the industry, in a mainstream way, to convince the local growers to grow not only table grape but also grape for wine production. And the rest is history.

In fact, if you look at the region now, in South-East Queensland, including in my electorate, there are a dozen wineries that have developed over the last 20 years. We have the Aussie Vineyards, the Tatra Winery with its cafe-restaurant and the Cedar Creek Estate Vineyard and Winery—owned by a fellow called John Penglis, who is not only a good friend but also a great vintner and businessman, and someone who has been able to establish a core to the industry in South-East Queensland. While we do enjoy a lot of cellar-door product, the wine making is still developing within our region. We also have the Mount Tamborine Winery and Homestead, Heritage Wines, Tamborine Mountain Distillery—which is essentially putting together fortified wines—and the Witches Falls Winery. We have some wonderful brands that have been developed and that have won many awards. There are the Albert River Wines, the Thumm Estate and Sarabah Estate Vineyard and Winery. All these are new businesses to the region and are responsible for some of the agricultural growth within our region.

One of those wineries is owned by the O’Reilly family, who many people know about from the history of the Stinson crash and from their involvement in a very traditional area of our region. The member for Dobell beside me knows well that I have talked on many occasions about Duck Creek Road, and Duck Creek Road leads its way up to the O’Reillys and the O’Reilly homestead. The O’Reillys also established a winery some years ago and, back in about 2005, they won a San Francisco International Wine Competition award for one of the best shirazes. That is out of an area that over the last 30 years has developed into something now unique for our region.

We do it reasonably tough in Queensland in terms of the growing traditions, but we have been able to work through that and grow the varieties of grapes that really do bring excellence to our region. I am sure that any South Australian members or the member for Kingston, who is also here tonight, who represents well her winegrowing district, would be proud of what we have been able to establish as a Queensland industry.

I spoke about Duck Creek Road in connection with the O’Reillys, and I have spoken about it on many occasions in this house. The reality is that these are families who have banded together as an industry to produce some very good wines. I say to South Australian members that, while their industry is well recognised and accepted and their branding and labelling are very well known overseas, Queensland wines are making their way to the tables of many people in different parts of the world. It is probably better at times that we compete in the production of wine than in AFL or the national league. The reality is that we now have another area of competitiveness, and Queensland’s wine industry is growing at a phenomenal rate. The development of our wine industry along with this amendment legislation will allow the geographical regions that are represented within my electorate to make their mark.

In conclusion, the Australian Wine and Brandy Corporation Amendment Bill 2009 will further advance our wine industry exports and our opportunities in Europe. Our wine labels will be clearer, internationally consistent and enforceable. This is a bill that supports one of the great Australian success stories of the last two decades, including that of South-East Queensland. I commend the bill to the House.

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