Alice Jordan-Baird (Gorton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak in support of the Excise Tariff Amendment (Draught Beer) Bill 2025 and the associated bill. It's an absolute honour to follow my friend the member for McNamara, who I know is a huge advocate for publicans and small businesses in his electorate and, like me, enjoys a pint every once in awhile as well.

Pubs, clubs and breweries are part of our social fabric and our Australian identity. They bring people together, they keep communities thriving and they support jobs right across the country. Australia has a long history of backing local brewers and the hospitality workers who keep our pubs running. In 2025 the Albanese Labor government is stepping up again, because that's what good governments do: they back local industry, they reduce pressure on household budgets and they keep our communities connected and strong. I'm proud to stand in this House and support a bill that delivers real cost-of-living relief, strengthens a key Australian industry and gives local pubs and the people who support them a fair go.

This bill is a practical measure. It freezes the draught beer excise for local pubs and gathering spaces. In doing so, it reduces the cost of beer for consumers and businesses alike. Whether your preferred measure is a schooner or a pint, this side of the House is keeping beer affordable. The amendments in this bill are simple, targeted and fair. They support an industry that matters to communities, families and workers right across the nation and cut cost-of-living pressures, delivering real relief to Australians and their businesses. The Albanese Labor government is determined in its goal to do just this, to make sure that Australians and their businesses get real relief for financial pressures.

On this side of the House, we know that cost of living affects all areas of life. Yes, it's about the number at the bottom of your energy bill, how much it costs to see a doctor when you're sick and how much student debt you still have to pay, which is why our government is acting to clamp down on every single one of these costs. But it's also about how much it costs to do the things we enjoy and the things that keep us together. Popping down to the pub for a beer and a meal with colleagues, friends and family is how we stay connected. We understand how important it is to protect these moments. Cost-of-living pressures cannot be allowed to compromise Australians' ability to stay connected. We also can't allow it to jeopardise the future of the hospitality industry in Australia. Our hospitality sector, especially in Victoria, has been through a lot.

Pubs, clubs and venues faced huge challenges during the pandemic. Costs went up, supply chains were disrupted, and running a business became much harder. Right now, beer tax increases hit small businesses hard, especially in years of high inflation. For a small pub or club, another jump in excise can make the difference between hiring another worker and cutting back hours. It can also mean the difference between keeping the price of a pint stable and having to raise it again for customers already feeling the pinch. These aren't just numbers on a page. They are the day-to-day realities for thousands of family-run venues across Australia. We heard them, we listened, and we acted.

Pubs, clubs and brewers asked for relief, and this bill delivers exactly that. It delivers on the government's commitment in the 2025-26 budget to freeze the indexation on draught beer excise for two years. Indexation is applied to draught beer excise and customs duty twice a year in February and August under arrangements that have been in place for decades. In other words, the tax on beer goes up every six months because of automatic indexation. Unfortunately, our breweries have faced 84 tax increases in the last 40 years, so this bill is a crucial step in the right direction and is a much needed break for industry.

The legislation before us today will freeze indexation from August 2025. In other words, we're having an intermission for automatic indexation for two whole years so that the schedule increases in August 2025, February 2026, August 2026 and February 2027 won't happen. The rates will stay the same through the whole period, and, when indexation resumes in August 2027, the beer tax won't jump to where it would have been if the automatic indexation had continued. It starts from the rate we're on right now. That means the beer tax will be below what it would've been for every year in the future, which will make a difference to the price of beer in the long term.

There are around 10,000 hospitality venues across Australia that will directly benefit from this bill, including pubs, bars, taverns and clubs. Seventy-five per cent of those venues are small family-run businesses that employ local people and support community events, sporting clubs and local charities. This is an industry that supports more than 160,000 jobs and contributes over $17 billion to the national economy. I am confident these measures will give these establishments the breathing room to keep business strong and support the communities that rely on them.

I understand this bill personally because I have seen it firsthand. As a young adult, I worked in hospitality. I know how dedicated small-business owners in hospitality are. They don't just run businesses; they nurture people, invest in local talent, provide local employment and give back to the community with passion. I've met business owners who stay awake at night worrying if they can keep staff on. But I've also watched young people grow and transform through their first hospitality job like mine. When I say this policy matters, I say it from experience. I've lived it, I've supported it and I've seen it change lives. Every cent these businesses save from the freeze on tax indexation is an investment in workers, in jobs, in wages and in valuable experience.

This bill builds on the broader tax relief announced earlier this year for Australia's brewers, distillers and winemakers. These industries aren't just part of our culture; they drive jobs, innovation and exports. Right now eligible producers can receive up to $350,000 in tax remission. This government will lift this remission to $400,000 from 1 July 2026. Our goal is simple. We want to reduce pressure on producers, boost local manufacturing and strengthen regional economies. Freezing the indexation on the draught beer excise is real cost-of-living relief that recognises the fundamental importance of pubs and breweries to Australians. It's another piece in the broader set of policies we've introduced to tackle the cost of living and ensure that the financial pressures on Aussies decrease in all areas of their lives, from sitting down to pay the energy bill to heading down to the local pub for a drink.

Reducing the cost of living has been our government's mission in this parliament, and I'm proud to say that we've delivered. We've provided three rounds of energy bill relief to homes and small businesses to take the sting out of bills, as well as up to $1.8 billion to extend energy bill relief for another six months until the end of 2025, bringing the total Energy Bill Relief Fund commitment to $6.8 billion.

We've delivered targeted cost-of-living relief for students, locking in 100,000 free TAFE places each year from 2027; legislating a 20 per cent cut to student debt—I'm proud to say three million students will see their HECS balances cut over the next two weeks; and raising the minimum repayment thresholds so that repayments are lower and kick in only when you earn more.

We're putting more medicines on the PBS and capping the cost of a prescription on the PBS to no more than $25. We've invested $7.9 billion to expand the eligibility for the MBS bulk-billing incentives and to establish the Bulk Billing Practice Incentive Program so that every electorate in the country will have GP practices that bulk-bill every patient. Australians will only need their Medicare card, not their credit card, to receive the health care they need.

When it comes to delivering real cost-of-living relief, the Albanese Labor government is truly leaving no stone unturned. That includes making sure that going down to the pub for a beer—something that makes so many Australians feel a whole lot lighter—doesn't make the wallet feel lighter as well. The best local stories and conversations come over a cold beer at the local pub, not in a meeting room and not at the office. What I hear loud and clear is that the cost of living has been weighing heavily on families, workers and small businesses. Prices keep rising, and people are struggling to get by. This includes paying the cost of a refreshing beer.

From the very first day I was elected, I promised this community I would fight for them, that I would stand up for affordability in our community, that I would fight for fairness and that I would use every tool in my tool belt to ease these pressures and make life a little bit easier for the people of the western suburbs of Melbourne. This change will help ease costs for every local venue in the seat of Gorton. It will also help keep a pint more affordable for everyday Australians.

This matters especially in Melbourne's west, where the pub culture is so strong. We've got so many loved pubs across Melbourne's west, from the beautiful Sugar Gum Hotel, in Hillside, to the Taylors Lakes Hotel; the Green Gully Soccer Club, another club whose food is well loved by the residents of Gorton; and the Keilor Hotel, which is a very special place close to me because it's where I met my husband, Chris. Just across from my office in Caroline Springs is Desir. Brenton, Michelle and Lorenzo have put their hearts into it. They're creating something really special in Gorton. This is a local business at its best. I know they'd be thrilled to see a government standing up for pubs and brewers, fighting to ease the cost-of-living pressures and working to bring down the cost of a pint in your hand so they don't have to worry about passing on the rising costs to customers. These venues are more than pubs in Gorton. They're community spots. They're where people catch up, unwind and feel connected. This measure helps keep them strong, and, because of that, I couldn't be prouder to support this bill.

In a rare show of good sense, the coalition has decided not to stand in the way of this cost-of-living measure. It's reassuring to know that, for all their faults, they enjoy a beer like the rest of us. I wish I could say the same had happened with other cost-of-living measures we've introduced.

Last term, they voted against our tax cuts for every taxpayer. They voted against us when we established the energy bill relief scheme. They went to the election promising to scrap our 20 per cent reduction on student debt. They opposed our fee-free TAFE policy and voted against it in this place, telling Australians that, if they didn't pay for their education, they wouldn't value it.

The coalition has shown a rare display of sense by getting out of the way of this cost-of-living measure, but make no mistake—

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