Mr CHAMPION (4:41 PM) —I rise to support the Australian Wine and Brandy Corporation Amendment Bill 2009 also. It is nice to have a bit of bipartisanship in the chamber. I spent my youth in Kapunda, which is a small town on the edge of the Barossa Valley. I still have school friends who work in the wineries as winemakers and in the packaging industry, so I am well aware of the importance it has to regional economies and to employment. Over the last decade or so we have seen the industry transform itself into an absolute champion exporter of Australian produce. We have to appreciate the effort and skill that goes into the production of some of those prestigious wines. With that experience in the back of my mind, I am happy to commend this bill to the House and to support it.

Any of the wine consumers present or listening to this speech will acknowledge that the Clare Valley, the Barossa Valley and the Adelaide Plains, all within my Wakefield electorate, are regions with well-deserved reputations for producing some of Australia’s finest wines. The Clare Valley is home to 50 wineries, produces only two per cent of Australia’s grape crush and yet wins 20 per cent of the wine awards available to Australian wineries every year. The Barossa Valley, which is home to 150 wineries, is listed as one of the world’s top 10 wine destinations. It is a wonderful place to go, not just for wines but for great food, scenery, fellowship and company. It is one of those terrific places to live or to visit. The Adelaide Plains are not quite as famous, but I have been out there many times and visited some of the wineries. A different type of wine is produced there, but there have been terrific achievements nonetheless.

It is the longevity of these achievements and many others that the bill before the House seeks to maintain. One of the objectives of the bill is to preserve the reputations of geographical indicators, such as those I mentioned as well as many others throughout Australia, from becoming targets of misuse, either domestically or from foreign export markets. The bill achieves this by allowing the Australian-European Community Agreement on Trade in Wine to come into full effect. Furthermore, the EC agreement certifies Australia’s reputation as a producer of wines of quality and integrity and expands access to our largest export market. The second objective of the bill is to strengthen the Australian Wine and Brandy Corporation’s Label Integrity Program, the LIP. This program seeks to protect all stakeholders within the Australian wine industry by ensuring that the Australian wine labels are truthful and accurate with regard to their origin and their characteristics.

The bill introduces accountability within the Australian wine industry, which is fundamental to ensuring the longevity of its world-class reputation. Accountability will ultimately also help us move up the value chain, which is one of the most important things for us to do.

This bill is receiving widespread support from the Australian wine industry, and it has the support of stakeholders and the opposition. As I said, it is wonderful to speak on a bill which has bipartisan support. It is something of a rarity these days, and we hope that there is no change of mind between now and its passage to the other place. Bipartisanship is important to the Australian wine industry at this time.

This bill also allows Australian winemakers to enjoy better access to European markets, and that access is a terribly important thing. The bill includes European recognition of an additional 16 Australian winemaking techniques, simplifies labelling requirements for Australian wine sold in European markets and provides protection within Europe for Australia’s 112 registered geographical indicators, including—most importantly to me—the Barossa Valley, the Adelaide Plains and the Clare Valley.

Mr Secker —You’re not claiming the Barossa Valley, are you?

Mr CHAMPION —I am indeed claiming the Barossa Valley—the best bits of it, anyway! I acknowledge the member for Barker’s strong support. He perhaps has proprietary over the Barossa Valley, but I will claim it for myself in this instance.

This bill clearly demonstrates the Labor government’s concern for and cooperation with this important rural industry. It also highlights the government’s ability to effectively utilise policymaking in a manner that not only supports and encourages economic growth through favourable terms of trade but at the same time protects the interests of Australian businesses—in particular, in this case, Australian small businesses. Through the process of listening to industry stakeholders, taking into account their concerns and having the European Community’s concerns registered through bilateral negotiations, the government has successfully preserved Australian wine and winemaking techniques within the agreement with our largest export partner.

This achievement has been suitably recognised by the Australian Wine and Brandy Corporation, the Winemakers Federation and a legislation review committee, all of whom have formally expressed to the minister their support for the bill. The minister is to be commended for his work not just in this area but in a lot of other areas. He has a very good reputation for being a hard worker and someone who is prepared to listen to the primary industries of this country.

I remind the House that Australia is the fourth-largest wine exporter in the world, and we want that to continue. By giving effect to this agreement—the Australia-European Community Agreement on Trade in Wine—this bill clearly seeks to promote and protect in the best sense of the word Australia’s hugely successful wine industry. We boast some of the oldest grapevines in the world. In the Barossa Valley, there are the shiraz vines that were brought all the way from Europe and are the only survivors of a disease that wiped out many of the established European vineyards. Our viticulturalists have developed new vine-management techniques which are now in application throughout the world. All these achievements—and the many others—of the wine industry underpin the necessity of this bill.

In closing I say that this is not the easiest time for the Australian wine industry. There are really difficult economic conditions in many of our export markets. The United Kingdom and the United States have suffered very severe downturns, and this has obviously impacted on our export growth. Slow economic growth across European markets coupled with the appreciation of the Australian dollar provide challenges to any exporter, particularly the wine industry. On top of that, the wine industry has an oversupply of grapes and emerging competition from countries like Chile, Argentina and South Africa.

This bill helps to meet those challenges in part. We know that there is some pretty difficult restructuring to go on and we know that we must move up the value chain if we are to be successful in the future. This bill is particularly important and perhaps marks a bit of a start on that journey. I am glad it protects some of Australia’s most distinguished wine regions, particularly those in my electorate—or adjacent to my electorate, as no doubt the member for Barker will correct me. It is with a great sense of pride in these industries that I commend this bill to the House.