Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

I am very grateful that my very good friend and colleague Senator Xenophon is so concerned about the interests of the winegrowers in Margaret River, which is great. Senator Cash and I are very concerned about the best interests of winegrowers in Margaret River too.

However, we do accept the point that has been very eloquently articulated by the government that for the parliament to get involved to this degree of detail in the corporate planning activities of Wine Australia, or any other government business enterprise, for that matter, would not be an appropriate precedent. We also note that the industry at large is not supportive of the amendment that Senator Xenophon has put forward in relation to this issue.

Obviously, I hope that, in the context of the incidence of counterfeiting of Australian wine, Wine Australia and others in the industry do take seriously the need to do something about this. Whether that is at an individual business level or at a more collective level, I think it is ultimately something for the industry to settle through its internal and established processes. It is not something that the coalition thinks that the parliament should prescribe through this legislation.

If we start prescribing one issue that might have merit, obviously the question then arises: what about all these other issues that we might feel are necessary and important to deal with? It is quite appropriate for us to leave the consideration of, and decision making around, the strategic and operational direction of Wine Australia to the Wine Australia organisation. On that basis, the coalition will not be supporting this amendment.