ADJOURNMENT

Mr BUCHHOLZ (Wright) (16:39): I rise to support the freeze that's in place on the excise for draught beer, and I call for it to be extended for a further three years. It's a sensible measure that's providing some welcome relief to pubs, clubs and their customers at a time when cost-of-living pressures are hurting Australians. Across my electorate of Wright, we have around 30 pubs and taverns.

They are businesses and they're employers, but, more importantly, they're also part of our local communities. They're part of the social fabric of our community and will sometimes be the first employer of a kid leaving school. They support local suppliers, sporting clubs and community organisations.

They are places where people can come together after work for a few beers with their mates to catch up. They're places for families to congregate and places for people to catch up for local fundraisers. In many of our small towns, the local pub remains one of the great meeting places for its communities.

The importance of this industry to Australian jobs and communities should not be underestimated. It directly employs around 176,000 full-time-equivalent jobs across the country, including around 22½ thousand manufacturing jobs, 21,000 in retail and more than 126,000 in hospitality. In Queensland, major breweries, such as XXXX and CUB, support local manufacturing, transport and supply-chain jobs as well.

These are not just numbers; they're actually workers, families and small businesses whose livelihoods depend on a strong and sustainable hospitality industry. Supporting our pubs, clubs and restaurants means supporting Australian jobs and the local economies and communities that rely on them being cornerstones in the community. Remember running a pub is not easy, and I know this because I was a publican.

We had a pub in Mackay. We managed a place called the Eimeo. I can tell you they're early starts and late finishes, and it really hones your communication skills, particularly when you're communicating with a person who's had a few.

You've got one personality at the beginning of the day and potentially a different personality at the end of the day. It's great training for coming and working in the parliament. On top of that, beer excise has been continuing to increase automatically with inflation twice a year.

If there's anything that we have learned from the failures of the tariff increases on cigarettes it's that, at some stage, the price point gets so expensive that it pushes the market underground so that those undesirables sneak into the market and sell a product much cheaper, and there is no benefit that is derived from having the tariff excises in place. Putting a freeze for a further three years on the beer excise is a great place to start, but we think that we should go further and give serious consideration to possibly making that freeze permanent.

At some point, we need to ask ourselves whether automatically increasing this tax every six months is still the right approach. A permanent freeze would provide greater certainty for publicans, help take pressure off prices and support the thousands of Australians whose livelihoods depend on hospitality. The hospitality and the alcohol industries support a significant number of Australian jobs, from brewers and transporters through to pubs and restaurants and the retail sector that goes with them.

These are real jobs, many of them in regional Australia, like my electorate. I mentioned earlier on that I have no less than 30 pubs and taverns. This is not simply about the price of beer.

It's about keeping the way of life for Australians. I think I've come up with a policy name for freezing the tariff, and I think we should call it Scotty's shout. I think it's going to resonate with Australians.

We're going to work towards freezing the excise on alcohol or three years and call it Scotty's shout. The punters in my electorate are going to love it because it's just the Australian thing to do. I caught up with Jeff over at Gatton the other day, and I said, 'Mate, if you were the Prime Minister for the day, what would you do?' He said, 'I would freeze beer excise.' Jeff, this one's for you, champion.

When I talk to my local constituents, know that you are heard.