Wine and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2026
Ms ROBERTS (Pearce) (17:01): The incorporated speech read as follows— I would like to speak in support of the Wine and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2026. This is a practical and necessary bill that responds to real pressures in the wine sector and gives growers and winemakers a clearer, fairer framework in which to operate. It is a bill that recognises both the economic importance of the wine industry and the challenges it has faced in recent years, and it seeks to deal with those challenges in a measured and constructive way.
The wine industry is one of Australia's great success stories. Since coming to office, the Albanese Labor government has delivered over $90 million in funding to support the grape and wine sector. This acknowledges how critical this industry is to Australia.
It contributes to regional economies, supports jobs across production, transport, hospitality and tourism and helps project Australia's reputation around the world for quality food and beverage products. But, like many parts of agriculture, it is also an industry that operates under pressure. It is exposed to global market shifts, changing consumer preferences, climate variability, supply chain disruptions and, at times, a mismatch in bargaining power between growers and purchasers.
When those pressures build up, they can put real strain on farm businesses, family enterprises and the communities that depend on them. That is why this bill matters. It is not simply a technical amendment bill.
It is a bill about fairness, transparency and confidence. It is about ensuring that the rules of the market better reflect the realities that growers and winemakers face. It is about creating a stronger foundation for long-term investment and better decision-making.
Most importantly, it is about giving the industry the tools it needs to build a more stable future. A key part of the bill is the move toward a mandatory code of conduct for wine grape purchases. That is an important reform because the existing voluntary approach has not been enough to address the underlying problems in the market.
Too often, growers have been left carrying the risk while having limited ability to influence the terms on which they sell their product. In any industry, that is not a sustainable arrangement. In an industry like the wine industry, where planting decisions, capital investment and harvest planning are made years in advance, it is particularly difficult when commercial arrangements are uncertain or opaque.
The bill seeks to improve those arrangements by giving growers and winemakers greater confidence and transparency. That is not just a slogan. It is a practical necessity.
If a grower is making decisions about pruning, irrigation, labour, vineyard management and future plantings, they need to know more than just what the market might look like in a general sense. They need a clearer view of what buyers are likely to offer, what terms will apply and how those terms will be communicated. The reforms in this bill are designed to improve exactly that.
The bill also strengthens Wine Australia's ability to collect and use information through industry surveys. That may sound like a modest administrative change, but it is actually a very important one. Good policy depends on good information.
If government and industry do not have accurate and timely data about what is happening in the market, they are flying blind. They cannot properly identify emerging risks, they cannot see where pressure is building and they cannot shape effective responses. Better information means better decisions.
Better decisions mean better outcomes for growers, winemakers and the wider sector. This reform also supports the administration and enforcement of the proposed mandatory code through the ACCC. That is important because a code is only meaningful if it can be properly implemented and enforced.
Rules on paper do not help growers if they are not backed by real oversight. Nor do they help if there are no reliable mechanisms for monitoring compliance. This bill strengthens that architecture.
It helps ensure that the code is not just a statement of principle, but a genuine practical tool that can improve behaviour across the supply chain. One of the most significant aspects of the bill is the focus on transparency in grape pricing and contracting. The review underpinning these reforms recommended that winemakers make earlier, binding offers for each grape variety they seek under contract in certain key growing regions and that those offer prices be made public.
That is a very important step. Transparency is one of the best ways to improve fairness in markets where power is unevenly distributed. When buyers must put forward clearer offers earlier, growers are placed in a stronger position to make informed decisions.
They can compare options, plan ahead and avoid being left in the dark until the last moment. That matters because grape growing is not an ordinary business. It is deeply tied to seasonal cycles, weather conditions, labour availability and long-term investment.
A grower cannot simply switch production overnight if market conditions become difficult. A vineyard is a long-term commitment. It can take years before the benefits of planting, irrigation and management are fully realised.
That is why certainty matters so much. It is also why fairness in the contracting process matters so much. If the rules are clearer and the process is more transparent, the entire sector stands to benefit.
The bill also includes changes relating to the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences, ABARES, and the Collections Act. These changes will allow ABARES to use and disclose personal information for its work, including agricultural research and analysis. That is another example of a reform that may appear technical but has broader significance.
Strong agricultural data is essential for good public policy. We need to know what is happening across agriculture, fisheries and forestry if we are to respond effectively to changing conditions. That includes tracking production trends, understanding regional variation and assessing the impact of policy settings over time.
The bill does include safeguards, and rightly so. Any use of personal information should be handled carefully and consistently with privacy obligations, but the broad principle is sound. If we want a modern, responsive agricultural policy framework, then we need the data to match it.
We need the capacity to analyse trends properly and to make evidence based decisions rather than rely on guesswork or outdated assumptions. That is especially important in a sector as complex and dynamic as agriculture. The government has also indicated that it has provided substantial funding support for the grape and wine sector in recent years.
That broader support is important context. It shows that this bill is not a standalone intervention but part of a wider effort to help the sector adjust and grow. The wine industry has faced tough conditions, and it is right that government has stepped in with reforms and assistance that aim to support resilience rather than simply manage decline.
Industry needs a future focused policy approach, not just short-term fixes. For regional communities, this matters even more. Wine is not only an export product or a line on a balance sheet.
It is part of the social and economic fabric of many regions. It supports local employment, sustains small businesses, drives tourism and helps shape the identity of whole communities. In places where vineyards, cellar doors, hospitality venues and support services all depend on one another, a stronger wine industry supports a stronger regional economy.
That is particularly relevant in Western Australia, where wine regions contribute not only to production but to the tourism and hospitality sectors as well. When the industry is stable, the benefits flow far beyond the vineyard gate. That is why I welcome the bill's focus on rebuilding confidence across the supply chain.
It recognises that the relationship between growers and buyers has not always been working as well as it should. It accepts that transparency and fairness are not optional extras; they are essential ingredients of a healthy market. And it shows a willingness to intervene where necessary to correct structural weaknesses rather than leaving individual growers to carry the burden alone.
There is also a broader principle at stake here. Good legislation should do more than regulate. It should improve the conditions under which people can plan, invest and prosper.
That is what this bill aims to do. It does not seek to overcomplicate the market or burden the industry with unnecessary red tape. Instead, it seeks to create clearer rules, better information and more balanced relationships.
That is a sensible and responsible approach. We should also acknowledge the consultation that has gone into these reforms. The bill has been developed after engagement with industry bodies, levied industries, research and development corporations and other recipients of levy and charge information.
That is important because the best reforms are those that reflect real-world experience. Industry knows where the pain points are. Growers know where the system is not working.
Winemakers understand the commercial pressures they face. Good government listens to that experience and turns it into workable policy. This bill reflects that approach.
At a time when many sectors are under pressure, the wine industry deserves policy that is clear, practical and grounded in reality. It deserves reforms that help restore trust, support investment and promote sustainability. That is what this bill attempts to do.
It strengthens Wine Australia, supports ABARES, improves the regulatory framework for grape purchasing and gives the industry a better basis on which to plan for the future. In closing, this is a sensible bill and a welcome one. It recognises the value of the wine sector, the hard work of growers and winemakers and the importance of fair dealing in commercial relationships.
It provides a stronger framework for transparency, better data and more accountable market behaviour. It is a bill that supports regional Australia, supports agricultural resilience and supports a more confident future for one of our most important export industries. For those reasons, I am proud to support the Wine and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2026.