Jonathon Duniam (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Forestry and Fisheries) Share this | Hansard source

It's a pleasure to rise and conclude the debate on this bill, the Wine Australia Amendment (Label Directory) Bill 2019. In doing so, I want to be bold: I'd like to say that every state and territory in Australia produces the best wine in Australia! We're going to spread the love around and acknowledge that this country produces the best wine. We have a resilient industry, one that works hard with all the challenges that are thrown up to it. I look forward to constructive discussions with all parties around the challenges that this industry faces.

I do want to acknowledge the efforts of the former minister for agriculture, Bridget McKenzie, in coming up with this bill and working with industry assiduously to ensure that its needs have been heard and met through this legislation.

Turning to the bill, the wine export label directory, as being debated at present, can be established by Wine Australia through the passing of this legislation to assist brand owners in this country to protect their intellectual property rights, which, as we've heard constantly throughout this debate, are incredibly important when it comes to the investment made by estate owners and those employed within the industry. By supporting brand owners to better protect their intellectual property rights this bill will ensure consumers can be confident that they will be getting a safe and quality product and that what it says on the label on the bottle is what they're actually going to get. This additional control will assist in safeguarding the reputation of Australia's growing wine export market that directly employs over 69,000 Australians and is worth nearly $3 billion—$2.91 billion—per year to the economy, which is a tremendous input, largely in regional economies across this country.

The label directory will be a public-facing, online database of all Australian wine labels for export that can be used by wine brand owners to search for copycat labels out there in the marketplace. Industry asked for a label directory to better protect their intellectual property rights from potential copycat exporters who seek to take advantage of the good name of Australian brands overseas—again, examples of which we have heard multiple times in this debate.

While Wine Australia's role doesn't extend to regulating intellectual property rights, this bill will assist wine brand owners to better protect their own interests, which, as already discussed, is exactly what industry have been asking for. With the Wine Australia Amendment (Label Directory) Bill 2019 we are adding one more tool to Wine Australia's export controls toolkit. The bill will make maintaining the label directory part of Wine Australia's existing export controls to deter exporters of wine and other grape products who seek to mimic Australian brands for commercial gain. This bill is important to Australia's wine exporters as well as the wine industry more broadly. It ensures that Wine Australia is equipped with appropriate regulatory mechanisms for maintaining Australia's reputation for quality and integrity in a growing international market for Australian wine.

The matter of smoke taint and the impact on wine grapes was canvassed extensively, and it is safe to say that this industry, like many others in this country, did not escape the ravages of the bushfires. Fires across the country have impacted on vineyards, on wineries, on genetic stock and on plant equipment right throughout our wine regions. Around 1,500 hectares of vineyards have fallen within the current fire affected regions, which is roughly one per cent of Australia's vineyards. The Australian government is supporting those small cellar door businesses and winegrape growers to get back to business quickly with the grants of up to $50,000 and $75,000 respectively. These small business and primary producer grants are already paying out, helping to replace burnt trellising and melted irrigation pipes and helping with the heartbreaking cleanout of burnt vines, which we have heard about during this debate. What a terrible impact that has been.

Our Australian wine industry is a key drawcard for regional tourism—something that I'm very passionate about—which has also taken a hit over summer. A wine tour through our regional cellar doors is a highlight for both domestic and international tourists who come to taste our quality wines in our beautiful bush. We've of course got the Australian government's $76 million tourism marketing push—the money that's being invested in international marketing, partnering up with private entities, airlines, and our major hotel chains—and $20 million for our Holiday Here This Year campaign, where we are partnering with states and territories to encourage Australians to do just that: take a trip through our beautiful wine-growing districts and spend time and money to support these small to medium businesses and of course, keep these people employing locals in their community, which is so critically important to regional economies. Wine tourism is a critically important part of our regional tourism industry, and it is something that this bill and other measures being taken by this government go a long way to support.

With the reports of smoke reaching vines far from fire fronts, this season's bushfires have highlighted the real anxiety and threat smoke brings to Australian vineyards. Smoke from bushfires, prescribed burns and farm burn-offs carries a risk that winegrapes may be affected by the free volatile phenols that are produced when wood is burned. However, research has shown that, just because smoke may be visible or able to be smelt, it doesn't necessarily mean that there's a high risk of smoke affecting the grapes. Grapes at a certain point of ripening which are exposed to smoke of a particular age and composition can produce aromas in wine which may be offensive to some wine consumers. This resulting smoke taint has long been an issue of concern for the industry, and it's a problem that's unique to the wine industry. Smoke taint can result in downgrades of fruit and the resultant wine and in losses and unharvested fruit, so it's important to the wine and winegrape industry to have the best means to measure, manage and mitigate smoke taint.

Since coming into government in 2013, the government has invested nearly $79 million in matched funding for the Australian wine industry's research and development priorities through Wine Australia. Additionally, for smoke taint specifically, the government has provided $1.466 million in funding for research projects through the Rural Research and Development for Profit program, matched by research partners in Victoria. This smoke research project has been generating knowledge, innovative technologies and processes that directly benefit grapegrowers and winemakers. Findings from the project are already being implemented through the Australian Wine Research Institute's extension services. The program includes face-to-face workshops and webinars for grapegrowers and winemakers on how to manage fire damage and smoke taint and is going to be delivered by the Australian Wine Research Institute in consultation with regional wine associations and major winemakers. Workshops have already been held in the Adelaide Hills and the Hunter Valley, Canberra, Orange, Mudgee, Milawa, Tumbarumba, Griffith, the Yarra Valley, Mornington Peninsula and the Barossa Valley, with more than 1,000 wine industry participants, funded by the government through Wine Australia.

Of course, we have a local example in Tasmania. Only a couple of weeks ago, I visited Hartzview vineyards which was impacted by the fires in the summer of 2018-19, just south of Hobart in the Huon Valley. I met with the proprietors there and talked with them about what they were doing to manage the smoke taint that impacted on their vineyard. They've been partnering with La Trobe University and looking at innovative ways to deal with fruit that was impacted by smoke, and they are sharing with others in the industry in that region the learnings they've taken from the work they've done with the La Trobe University. There are some very exciting things coming out of it. Obviously it's always better to avoid it, but these tools that they are going to be provided with for dealing with smoke taint, I think, give us cause for hope.

Of course, winemaking is a long process, and any smoke taint in this year's crop won't be in the wine coming onto the market in the near future. In the meantime, Australia's agriculture counsellors are working alongside Wine Australia to facilitate provision of accurate information in wine export markets about the impacts of the bushfires and to provide assurance of the continuing high quality of Australian wine.

Just going to the second reading amendment that's been proposed by the opposition and that was moved by Senator Sterle earlier on, I believe the Australian government has an extensive agenda and has made a significant investment in climate resilience and adaptation. Our resilience and adaptation investments produce practical actions that will keep Australians safe and prepared for the future. The government is taking the impacts of a changing climate on the wine industry seriously. The Australian government has provided more than $78.9 million, as I've already mentioned, in matched funding since November 2013 for the wine industry's R&D priorities through our entity Wine Australia.

Wine companies across Australia are implementing measures to mitigate the potential impact of the changing climate on their industry, because it's economic to do so. Examples exist in the area of water-saving techniques, the use of alternative packaging like glass and PET bottles, reducing refrigeration loads and, of course, extra planting of trees, which act as carbon sinks. The wine industry's use of nitrogen fertiliser, which can create the greenhouse gas nitrous oxide when added to soil, is very tactical and targeted and contributes very little to the overall nitrous oxide emissions levels. But the future impacts of climate change on the wine sector may not be as dramatic as has been described by some. A four-year study in shiraz vineyards around Mildura in 2018 suggests that, for that region at least, increased temperatures and levels of CO2 do not have a significant impact on grape yield or quality. This and many other research projects were completed with funding from the government.

The government, through Wine Australia, is investing $5.4 million over the next three years in climate change adaptation and mitigation research and development projects. Wine Australia has also successfully completed a number of research projects to improve the wine industry's climate resilience, such as developing irrigation strategies and understanding the impacts of elevated carbon dioxide on wine grapes.

Additionally, for smoke taint specifically, as I've already mentioned, the government has provided nearly $1½ million in funding to a research project through the Rural Research and Development for Profit program, matched by research partners in Victoria. This smoke research project has been generating knowledge and innovative technologies and processes to directly benefit grapegrowers and winemakers, and the findings of these projects are already being implemented right throughout the industry. Investing in this vital research will provide the wine industry with the tools they need to grapple with a changing and more variable climate and increasing severe weather events such as drought and bushfires. So we oppose the second reading amendment but do indeed commend this bill to the Senate.