Tony Pasin (Barker, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Infrastructure and Transport) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

PASIN () (): There's a lot going on in the Riverland at the moment. I've spent my time back home from this place in river communities, helping with flood mitigation efforts. But, as well as the water that's heading to the Riverland, there's another issue that will punish wine and grape producers there. The Riverland is the largest wine region by size, with 20,000 hectares of grapevines. The Riverland's almost 1,000 growers represent a third of the nation's crush.

I wrote to Minister Watt in September, requesting an urgent meeting with the Riverland grape and wine industry to discuss the red wine sector in light of the coercive action of the CCP. After a month of waiting for a reply, the minister responded but, conveniently, completely ignored my request for a meeting. On 16 November, the minister came to South Australia and met with others in the wine industry, but he gave the Riverland and its producers—who are going to be disproportionately affected—a very wide berth. As the federal minister also responsible for emergency management, I would have thought there was cause enough for Minister Watt to visit the Riverland at the moment—but, no. We need to stand shoulder to shoulder with the Riverland industry and its residents and businesses, not turn our backs on them. Minister, leaders are meant to take responsibility and turn up. So why won't you?