Daniel Mulino (Fraser, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

Australians have always known how to come together—around the kitchen table for a cuppa, over a snag at your mate's birthday barbecue or cheering from the sidelines at the kids' Saturday netball game.

This bill delivers another reason for Australians to come together.

This bill delivers on the government's commitment in the 2025-26 budget to freeze the indexation on draught beer excise for two years.

This bill is a win for beer drinkers, brewers and every pub, club and hospitality business across the country.

I want to put on the public record that, as Assistant Treasurer, I see it as a key part of my role to support liquid markets.

For many Australians, the local pub isn't just a place to have a drink.

It's where the community meets.

It's where people unwind after a week of hard work, where mates catch up, where you celebrate your team's win.

It's where tourists get their first real taste of the real Australia—and learn that we don't drink Fosters and there's much better beer on tap from top-notch local brewers.

Keeping those places strong matters. They employ hundreds of thousands of people and play a big part in local life.

This pause is about giving pubs, clubs and breweries a bit more certainty—delivering around $100 million of support.

Under longstanding arrangements, beer excise is indexed twice a year—every February and August. Those increases are automatic, and keep taxes in line with CPI.

This legislation pauses those biannual increases for draught beer from 1 August 2025 through to 31 July 2027.

The excise will then resume indexation from that paused rate in August 2027.

It's a moderate and targeted measure, but one with real impact.

It builds on the broader tax relief we announced earlier this year for Australia's brewers, distillers and winemakers that are not only central to our culture and way of life, but also to jobs, innovation and exports.

Currently all eligible brewers, distillers and winemakers can get a tax remission under the scheme up to a cap of $350,000.

The government is also increasing these caps to $400,000 per financial year from 1 July 2026, under legislation we have recently consulted on.

From Burnie's whisky to Burdekin rum, from Brisbane beer to Barossa shiraz—producers right across the country will benefit.

These measures are practical, targeted support that makes a real difference in the lives of pub owners and pub goers alike.

And I look forward to visiting pubs in as many electorates as possible so that I can carry out the important task of post-legislative implementation assessments.

The measure in this bill was previously moved as Excise Tariff Proposal (No. 1) 2025 on 24 July 2025. Consistent with normal parliamentary practice, the excise tariff proposal now requires incorporation in the Excise Tariff Act.

This bill is complemented by the Customs Tariff Amendment (Draught Beer) Bill 2025.

This bill makes the same changes to Australia's excise laws.

Full details of the measure are contained in the explanatory memorandum.

Debate adjourned.