Tom French (Moore, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak in support of the Customs Tariff Amendment (Draught Beer) Bill 2025, which accompanies the Excise Tariff Amendment (Draught Beer) Bill 2025. This is a bill that, if you forgive the pun, goes straight to the taproot of Australia's hospitality culture. This bill does something simple, sensible and overdue. It pauses the indexation of the customs duty on draught beer for two years, from 1 August 2025 to 1 August 2027. It means that, for the first time in a long while, pubs, clubs and breweries across the country will get a breather from the automatic six-monthly CPI hikes that have been hitting them like clockwork every February and August.

I know this might seem like a small change in the grand scheme of tax law, but for venues that are at the heart of our communities, for the small-business owners, for the shift workers, for the kitchen staff and for the locals who rely on them, it matters a lot. And I can say that with a bit of personal authority, because before I stood in this place I ran a pub myself. I know what it's like to watch your margins shrink every time you get an excise notice in your inbox. I know the pain of seeing the price of a pint edge up, not because of better wages or better hops but because of automatic indexation tied to the CPI.

This bill gives some breathing space to those who've been gasping for it. This is a measured, temporary and responsible pause for an industry that's been doing it tough. In Moore, that means pubs and clubs, from Joondalup to Mullaloo and from Kingsley to Duncraig—family-run venues, where staff know your name, where the kitchen serves a proper parmi and where community sport teams celebrate a win on a Saturday night.

Paddy Malone's in Joondalup, Whitford's Brewing Company and Carine Glades Tavern—they're not just places to have a drink; they're employers, they're training grounds, they sponsor the local footy club, they host charity raffles and they give apprentices a start. When you help a pub stay afloat, you're helping a whole ecosystem of workers and suppliers: farmers, truck drivers, musicians and hospitality staff. When those venues are stable, the whole economy benefits.

This bill doesn't touch packaged beer or retail sales. It's specifically about draught beer—the stuff poured from kegs into a glass. That's deliberate. The benefit goes to where it's needed, not into supermarket aisles or bottle shop chains. In the 2025-26 budget, this was part of the Supporting the Hospitality and Alcohol Producers Package—a recognition that, while Australia's economy is resilient, the hospitality sector still carries the scars of the pandemic and cost-of-living pressures. We know that, for many pubs, even a one per cent increase in excise adds thousands of dollars a year to their costs. When those hikes come twice a year, it's hard to plan. This measure says that for the next two years you can plan with certainty. You can lock in prices, pay your staff and get through the next couple of winters without an unexpected hit.

The Treasury has estimated a cost to revenue of around $95 million over five years. That's not loose change, but in budget terms it's a modest and targeted investment, one that supports tens of thousands of small businesses, hundreds of thousands of jobs, and the tourism economy that depends on them. It's a structural, not temporary, improvement in fairness. When the indexation resumes, it resumes from a frozen rate, so pubs don't face a double whammy down the track.

Now there will be those opposite who say they support the bill in principle, but they do wish they thought of it first—

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