Wine and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2026

Ms COLLINS (Franklin—Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) (18:36): I thank members of this place for their thoughtful contributions and for speaking on the Wine and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2026. I also thank them for their acknowledgement of the extraordinary contribution that Australian farmers and fishers and foresters make to our nation.

I think that all of the speeches acknowledged our farmers and our grape growers around the country and the work that they do, and this bill is really part of our support for the agriculture, fisheries and forestry sectors. The grape and wine sector does make a very valuable contribution to regional communities as well as to our Australian economy. Our government is committed to supporting the sector's profitability, its productivity and its resilience, and we've now provided more than $95 million in support since July 2022 to help strengthen the long-term viability of Australian grape growers and winemakers.

The amendments to the Wine Australia Act 2013—the wine act—would provide Wine Australia with the function to conduct or arrange surveys of the grape or wine industry to support the operation of the wine act or the Competition and Consumer Act 2010. This supports implementation of the proposed mandatory code of conduct for wine grape purchases. The amendments to the wine act would also establish an information management framework that provides for the authorised use and disclosure of information obtained or generated under the act.

These amendments will modernise and strengthen the wine act while ensuring there are appropriate safeguards for protected information. The amendments to the Primary Industries Levies and Charges Collection Act 2024—the collection act—would enable the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences, known as ABARES, within the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, to disclose certain relevant levy/charge payer information to third parties to perform its functions, including research and data analysis.

In particular, the amendments would allow ABARES to disclose relevant and targeted levy/charge payer information to third-party mail-house companies to enable ABARES to continue to conduct agricultural surveys. The bill would also make a technical change to the rule-making power in the collection act to ensure that the power operates as intended, consistent with other specific rule-making powers in the act.

These changes will strengthen the ability of Wine Australia and ABARES to continue their important research work and continue strengthening the industry into the future. I will also take this opportunity to thank the member for Ryan for her contribution but to indicate to her that the government is not supportive of her second reading amendment. I understand the reasons behind it, and I understand her passion in relation to volumetric tax on alcohols, but I don't think that this is the appropriate bill, time or place to have that discussion, so the government will be opposing the second reading amendment.

Question negatived. Original question agreed to. Bill read a second time.

Ordered that this bill be reported to the House without amendment Federation Chamber adjourned at 18:41