PRIVATE MEMBERS' BUSINESS
Ms CLUTTERHAM (Sturt) (12:35): I'm pleased to have the opportunity to speak on this motion today, and I share the member for Mayo's sentiments about how important the wine industry is to the Australian economy and to remote and regional Australia in particular. In recognition of this importance, the Albanese Labor government will always provide strong support for the grape and wine sector.
An example of this is the Wine Tourism and Cellar Door Grant program, with a $30 million commitment over three years designed to allow wine and cider producers to apply for grants of up to $100,000, through Wine Australia, on their eligible rebatable cellar door sales. Round 8 of this program is anticipated to open in August 2026. In round 7, $3.8 million of this was delivered to businesses in South Australia.
One beneficiary in round 7 was Amadio Wines. The Amadio vineyard is located north of the Adelaide Hills wine region, between the areas of Kersbrook and Williamstown, and, on its 320 acres, it grows a huge variety of grapes, including our favourites: sav blanc, fiano, chardonnay, pinot grigio, shiraz and sangiovese. Amadio also has a cellar door at Felixstow, in my electorate of Sturt, and I went for a visit last Thursday, where I met winemaker Danniel Amadio.
The Wine Tourism and Cellar Door Grant program has allowed Amadio Wines to invest in a customised tasting offering, to invest in their website to allow them a bigger online push into the domestic and international market, and to invest in more sophisticated point-of-sale equipment for cellar-door sales. I helped test the cellar-door sales equipment and can confirm I was easily able to buy some beautiful Australian made prosecco—yes, we can still call it that—and a gorgeous nebbiolo rose, which I can confirm is no longer with us!
In Sturt, we are also lucky to be home to Penfolds wines Magill Estate Cellar Door, which also benefited from the grant program and is the spiritual home of Penfolds wines. Located 8½ kays from the CBD, Magill estate is an escape—a sanctuary with beautiful grounds, beautiful food and, even better, beautiful Australian wines. I love going there and, more importantly, I love supporting the South Australian wine industry.
South Australia is being supported because of the solid partnership between federal and state Labor governments. Together, Labor is supporting South Australian grapegrowers and winemakers to diversify sales and boost their long-term productivity and sustainability, with the SA Wine Recovery Program having been extended through to 2027. This program is backed by $3.1 million in federal funding, and the extended program is designed to support South Australia's wine industry to recover from the adverse events and market disruptions that have been experienced in recent years.
This includes supporting a third round of the resting vineyard rebate, supporting growers to temporarily rest parts of their vineyard to cut production costs and buy some time to evaluate and make decisions on the future viability of vineyards. This builds on the existing streams of the program that will be extended, which focus on improving vineyard waste management, working on domestic market demand-building initiatives and boosting regional grape and wine capability.
In South Australia, we produce 80 per cent of Australia's premium wine and 50 per cent of all bottled wine, with more than 397 million litres of wine exported overseas in the 2024-2025 financial year, worth $1.8 billion. This makes the SA Wine Recovery Program, developed following recommendations made by the Viticulture and Wine Sector Working Group established by agriculture ministers, with further input from the South Australian Wine Industry Association and Wine Grape Council of South Australia, absolutely critical.
Our wine industry is not just worth supporting. It is absolutely critical that we support it, and not only so it grows and thrives domestically but so that it can continue to form an important part of our international trade with both established and emerging markets. Government must continue to play a leading role in this, but consumers can too by buying our beautiful Australian wines.
Not only are they excellent but, when you buy Australian wines, you are supporting the Australian wine industry, Australian jobs and Australian businesses, which are worth backing every day of the week.