Wine and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2026

Mr VIOLI (Casey) (16:47): It is a pleasure to speak on the Wine and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2026. Given that I represent the best wine region in Australia, it would be remiss of me not to speak. I want to acknowledge, Deputy Speaker Haines, that the King Valley in your community has some good wine areas as well—just not quite as good as the Yarra Valley's!

We take pride in serving communities like the Menzies community. We play such key roles in our communities but also in serving Australia and the world. The coalition is supporting this bill.

It's in response to the findings of the Emerson review, which found that grapegrowers face an imbalance in bargaining power against large winemakers and the voluntary code is no longer fit for purpose. Victoria's wine industry was born in the Yarra Valley. Our wine industry began shortly after the first colonial farmers in 1837, when the Scottish-born Ryrie brothers established Yering Station, initially operating as a cattle farm.

A year later, they planted the first grapevines on the property, marking the birth of Victoria's wine industry. That winery still operates today, but, in the current climate, there are many wine growers concerned about the future of their business. I've been engaging with these wine growers in many different forums and many different ways.

I want to thank Wine Yarra Valley and Wine Australia for working with me in bringing together many roundtables with wineries large and small to make sure that we can hear about the challenges they are facing and do the work to help them grow into the future. When we talk about wineries and the wine industry in my community and every other community that is lucky enough to have a wine region, it's not just about the wineries; there is a whole ecosystem of jobs and opportunities that is created off the back of these wineries.

My own lived experience is of this. When I was at high school and, then, university, I worked for a local hospitality company called Prestige Events. We did weddings, marquee weddings, and we had partnerships with most of the greatest wineries in the Yarra Valley.

Residents from the local area, from the city, from interstate and from overseas would come into the Yarra Valley to have their weddings at one of those wineries. That job not only provided me with an income but gave me so many life lessons. I'll always be grateful to Michael and Gayle Thwaites for the opportunity they gave to a 15-year-old who didn't really know what hard work was.

They taught me very quickly what hard work was. That's just one example of how the wine industry in the Yarra Valley and across the country is creating jobs, particularly for young people and particularly those at high school, giving them opportunities to learn about life and earn a little bit of extra money. I do say that one of the great things about working in weddings is that it is great preparation for politics, because there is no tougher customer alive than a bride.

I learnt a lot. Because it is such a special day— Ms Penfold interjecting— Mr VIOLI: Let's be honest, Member for Lyne; as long as the groom turns up in a suit and fully shaven, they're pretty happy. But he talks about needing to set high standards, and the wineries of the Yarra Valley and of Australia set the highest standards in the world.

But our local wine growers and wine growers across Australia are facing continued uncertainty with challenging trade conditions, a global oversupply of wine and declining consumption in many markets. The sector is currently carrying around 262 million litres more wine than can be commercially sustained, placing enormous downward pressure on prices throughout the supply chain.

The 2026 grape harvest was the smallest in 25 years, yet grape prices continue to decline. At the same time, global wine consumption has fallen to its lowest level in more than 60 years. Australia cannot solve those international market conditions, but we can ensure our domestic market is as fair and transparent as possible.

And we need to remember that, behind these numbers—yes, there are some large organisations. There are some large businesses and some people in the wine industry who are doing well. But, in many cases, there are families that are either generational winemakers or have decided to start a winery, and their winery is their future.

It's their superannuation. It's how they plan to retire, and, hopefully, they will pass it on to their children. So it's not just about the wineries; it is about the families behind those wineries who are doing it so tough at the moment.

None of these challenges are addressed in this bill. But what the bill does address is Dr Emerson's independent review, which found significant issues of bargaining power between major buyers and smaller-scale grape purchasers. We have many small, family-run wineries in my community.

They produce amazing wines, but this imbalance in bargaining power results in growers accepting contracts with unfavourable terms or limited ability to resolve disputes. The coalition has a strong record of supporting mandatory codes where there is a clear imbalance in market power and where voluntary agreements are no longer delivering fair outcomes for suppliers.

We've strengthened mandatory codes including the Dairy Code of Conduct, the Horticulture Code of Conduct and the Food and Grocery Code of Conduct to ensure fairness and confidence in supply chains. This fairness is important because it delivers better, cheaper products to markets today and into the future, making sure there's a diversity of suppliers and there are consumers on the other end.

We back competitive markets, but we must ensure that our primary producers and our small operators are receiving a fair deal. This bill also establishes an information-sharing framework with Wine Australia to share information with the ACCC for the implementation of the mandatory code. It further makes change to the levy collection system, but it does nothing to address the broader structural problems identified by the government's own Productivity Commission.

The Productivity Commission found that Australia's agricultural levy system has become a bureaucratic nightmare of around 248 levies administered through approximately 70 different arrangements, creating unnecessary complexity, increasing administrative burden and dragging on productivity. We should always remember when we talk about levies for agriculture, whether for wineries or farmers, that it is the farmers' money.

I was very lucky. My uncle Sam, who was a strawberry grower, was president of both the Victorian and the national strawberry growers associations at the same time for over a decade. I spoke to him.

I have seen firsthand the work he's done as a farmer but also in his advocacy for the strawberry industry across our country. I remember, when I got elected, he took me aside, as all good Italian uncles do, and gave me a few words of wisdom and a lot of lessons. Mr Hamilton interjecting— Mr VIOLI: Well, he gives them to me every time, member for Groom.

But what he did say to me about farmers and about levies was really important. He said, 'Never forget that those levies that are collected and spent by bureaucrats and departments are the farmers' money.' It's their money that they are giving up to deliver a better outcome for their industry, and, if it's not delivering a better outcome for the industry, they shouldn't be paying the levy.

Farmers are happy to pay levies because they understand the importance of the collective nature of putting that money together to grow their industry. That's why he was president of the strawberry growers association—to grow the strawberry industry across our country. But it must always be delivering value for money for our farmers, and getting rid of that complexity will help deliver value for money for our Australian farmers.

And, if our Australian farmers are strong and growing, that's means we will have better prices and better products for consumers all across our country. The reality for our local wine growers is they are facing issues beyond the code of conduct and levies that this bill addresses. Earlier this year, the wine industry put forward a practical and costed package of measures through its pre-budget submission to help growers and wine makers navigate these difficult and challenging market conditions.

The government, unfortunately, failed to listen, didn't engage and did not act on those recommendations. As Darren Rathbone, the chief executive officer and wine maker at Yering Station, Victoria's oldest winery, said at the time: Backing the industry through this federal budget is an investment in regional communities like ours. But the government didn't back regional communities like mine.

They turned their back on regional winemaking communities and continue to fail to provide meaningful support to the industry for the challenges that it is facing. Again, when we talk about industry, we are talking about people and their families, and many families have got everything invested in their winery. Instead, the government made it harder for wineries, particularly wineries like mine, which not only grow and make wine but rely on tourism for their businesses.

The government abolished the Wine Tourism and Cellar Door Grant program that helped wineries like those in the Yarra Valley to attract visitors, grow regional tourism and diversify their income. Not only did that cellar door grant program help the wineries; it helped sustain our local economy, because when the wineries invest in new cellar doors and upgrade their facilities, they get local builders and local suppliers to do the work.

That is more economic growth taken away from communities like mine because of the heartless decisions of this government. Wineries are the economic heart of communities like the Yarra Valley. They support local jobs, hospitality businesses and local tourism.

When our wineries are strong, our local accommodation venues are strong, our tourism operators are strong, and our local shopping strips and small businesses are strong. A mandatory code will go some way towards evening the bargaining power between grape growers and wine makers, but it is only one part of the solution for our wine industry. We want to see Australia's wine industry thrive long into the future.

For this to happen, the government must pair these reforms with practical support for growers, regional wineries and wine tourism and stop the cuts to successful programs that are helping our wineries grow. The coalition and I will keep standing up for regional wineries like ours in the Yarra Valley because our growers, our small businesses and our agricultural families are worth fighting for.

They are the heartbeat of our economy. They give so much back to our communities. I'm proud to come from a farming family.

I'm proud to have grown up as a third-generation local in Casey and to have worked in hospitality businesses that thrived through a strong wine and grape growing industry. The industry has been great to me. I'll always continue to be a voice for our industry, because I know right now in our community young people are getting the opportunity to learn life lessons and earn some extra income through hospitality and through tourism.

Not only are those young people learning and getting opportunities as teenagers at university like I did but many are seeing long-term opportunities to work in agriculture, in horticulture, in tourism and in hospitality not only in our community but also all across Melbourne. Many take the opportunity to go overseas and travel the world off the back of the hospitality experience that they gain.

It's so important that we continue to do the work to get it right and help this industry at this most challenging time that they are facing through no fault of their own. For every day I have the honour of being the member for Casey, I will work to support our industries, including our hospitality, our horticulture, our tourism and our wine regions. The DEPUTY SPEAKER ( Dr Haines ): I understand that the member for Pearce would like to present a copy of their speech for incorporation into Hansard in accordance with the resolution agreed to on 6 November 2025.