Josh Burns (Macnamara, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I congratulate the Minister for Climate Change and Energy on his statement and thank him for his tireless efforts in order to bring down emissions—a very difficult job but one he is doing excellently and with great skill. Just like the shadow minister's process, he didn't quite finish before it had to be interrupted by people who are above him. I know a lot of members opposite were very angry with the shadow minister for taking too long with his internal review on net zero. He didn't quite get there. The Leader of the Opposition had to step in on the timing because the shadow minister was just taking forever and making his colleagues very angry. After that ridiculous contribution, those opposite have outed themselves as the climate change deniers that they are. When they talk about credibility, they have none in the Australian community.

Moving on to more important matters, the Excise Tariff Amendment (Draught Beer) Bill 2025, as I was saying before those important statements, is a bill that says we are here to support the small businesses across the country. For those who don't know—and I'm sure many members of this parliament have worked in hospitality at some point in their careers—back in my university days I did have a brief stint working at one of St Kilda's fantastic establishments, the Beachcomber restaurant. I spent a summer running plates to and from the kitchen and, when there were functions, also working behind the bar. It was hard work. It was work where, after a six-hour shift, you were really tired. You had to put in a big effort, but it was really good, honest work. I know that, for people who are working in hospitality, the moments where you get to interact with people and see people enjoying our beautiful city and our beautiful businesses are really an enjoyable part of that job.

It's really important for communities like mine that hospitality businesses are able to run them sustainably to support their workforce and not have too many costs that continue to build. The businesses, the pubs and all of the other hospitality venues were concerned about what the added costs of the CPI increases on the beer excise mean for their businesses. When you think about the thousands of people, even in my own community, who work in the sector—from the hardworking kitchen staff, the supervisors and the cleaners to the bookkeepers, the event organisers, the sound techs and the live performers—this is an industry we need to make sure we're sustaining and supporting.

A lot of young people—just as I did when I was much younger—working in such places are able to use it as an entry point into the workforce. But also they can move through their career to be in these incredibly high skilled positions, whether it be in the kitchen, behind the bar or in any other parts of these hospitality venues. It is a sector where there is really a need for high-skilled, competent and hardworking people. I think about all the things that make our community vibrant, wonderful, colourful and welcoming, and you just can't go past all those establishments.

When you think about the people who come in and sit at our establishments and are having to pay for all the beers and other products they're using, it adds up. If people don't have enough discretionary funds or savings, these are sometimes the things that fall off, and people choose not to go out, not to go and support small businesses. They choose to just stay home, because they don't have the disposable income to spend at these sorts of establishments.

When you have these sorts of excises, which do add up, they get passed on to the consumer. For the most part, a lot of the establishments are places where hardworking people, lower- and middle-income earners, like to go and decompress after work, hang out with friends or just have that social interaction. In an age when too many people are sitting at home on their phones, not interacting with people and not going out, having these venues where it's actually affordable and possible for people to go out is really important.

This bill is a small contribution to a really important part of our community and our economy. I say to all members of this place that when you think about the things that you love about your community you obviously think about the incredible community organisations—the people who give up their time, who do amazing work, who help serve our community. But you also think about the things people really love about all the different parts of our communities. For me, the inner part of Melbourne is a place where people love to come and visit. It's a place where people can get great food, have great times, go and see an amazing piece of Australian culture—performance, music, sport—all the things people love to go and enjoy. At the heart of that obviously is being able to have a drink, to relax and to be a part of these establishments.

The policy that this bill will support will mean that 10,000 hospitality venues across Australia will benefit from these changes, and about 75 per cent of them—an overwhelming majority of them—are small businesses. That's why these measures are important. This is something the sector was calling for. It's something venues were calling for. It's something that gives them more certainty, and it's something that will bring down the cost of going out over time. It will mean that the excise on our draught beer will not increase twice a year on the CPI. That fundamentally is going to help people enjoy the wonderful things that make our community vibrant. I commend the bill to the House.

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