Tim Wilson (Goldstein, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Small Business) Share this | Hansard source

And so, one of the biggest problems now with the gin and spirits industry is the scale of the excise. The distilled spirits industry in this country is literally going broke under this government. There are so many distilleries that have collapsed, closed or have had to be sold off to foreign interests. This is not a good outcome. Australian craft spirits, like Australian craft beer, should be an industry—a success—that goes on, employs and is connected directly to tourism and economic opportunity. This government is killing these industries needlessly. And tax is the key driver of it, because it creates huge problems for financing and huge problems for being able to manage the capacity to employ people. It also becomes the biggest barrier for starting a new business, when people can see a pathway to be able to produce a product to be successful and they want to back themselves. I know the member for Monash agrees with me on that.

We understand why this bill's important, but the industry is saying they're not sure why it's limited. They don't understand why it's time stamped and what they want is a longer commitment of certainty. All I hope for is that, in our considerations over the next two years—of course, this goes to the coalition and to the government—we give the industry long-term certainty around how we make sure to reduce the overall burden of tax so that we can have a spirits, beer and alcohol industry that we can be proud of—one that is not just successful in selling to Australians but selling successfully to the world.

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