Question Time

Wine Industry

The Hon. N.J. CENTOFANTI (Leader of the Opposition) (14:19): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development a question about issues impacting the South Australian wine industry.

Leave granted.

The Hon. N.J. CENTOFANTI: An article headlined 'We'll crack on refund costs, say wineries' by Catherine Birmingham, published on 22 May of this year in The Advertiser, sets out concerns from local industry about the costs associated with the possible expansion of the container deposit scheme in South Australia and includes the comment:

There’s already wineries that are pushed to the wall…the increased cost right now is really going to be difficult, particularly for small producers.

My questions to the minister are:

1. At a time when the South Australian wine industry is doing it tough with high costs and trade restrictions to key markets, why is the state government considering inflicting more pain on this critical industry through higher regulatory and operational costs?

2. Does the minister agree with concerns from the wine industry that costs associated with the expansion of the container deposit scheme could threaten some of the 650 wineries or more than 9,000 South Australians directly employed by grapegrowing and winemaking?

3. What actions will the minister undertake to protect the key wine regions across South Australia from higher costs imposed on the wine industry?

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN (Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development, Minister for Forest Industries) (14:20): I thank the honourable member for her question. Although I am not sure she actually used the words, I think she is referring to the container deposit scheme. It might have been useful to say that if that's indeed what she is referring to.

The Hon. N.J. Centofanti: I said the container deposit scheme.

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN: You did? You need to say it a little bit more clearly then. It could be that one or two members in this place haven't had enough sleep—it's entirely possible that that's the case. There has been a discussion around a potential for the container deposit scheme to be expanded to wine bottles and that discussion has been happening for a number of years. I think it has perhaps been brought to the fore recently because, in my view, disappointingly, Queensland has now decided to proceed with including wine and spirit bottles in the Queensland container deposit scheme from later this year.

I say disappointed because a lot of the discussions that have been happening—I will point out that it is the direct responsibility of the Minister for Environment and Water in the other place—nationally, as I am advised, have been around the benefits and preference, particularly of the industry, that if it was to be extended that it would be a national scheme, rather than different in each state or territory jurisdiction. I think there are considerable concerns and rightly placed concerns about the impact that such a scheme would have on the wine industry. We are very aware that there are currently a great number of challenges for the wine industry, particularly for the production of red wine grapes.

In terms of the Queensland situation, I can assure producers that the state government will continue to work with industry through this process. Implementing the changes required to be compliant so that wine can go into Queensland under the new container deposit scheme arrangements would represent, I am advised, about an $8.48 million investment by South Australian wineries.

South Australia's growing spirits sector will also be impacted by these changes. The Department of Primary Industries and Regions (PIRSA), my department, is working with the South Australian Spirit Producers' Association to understand the impacts on industry. I think it is worth mentioning that South Australian wine and spirit producers have demonstrated a strong commitment to sustainability for the whole supply chain.

I will certainly continue to work with respective industry bodies to understand the short to medium term impact on their sectors and continue to be in discussions with the Minister for Environment and Water in the other place about this. I can say that at the moment there have not been any plans progressed to my knowledge to expand the scheme here in South Australia and, indeed, the minister in the other place has mentioned on a number of occasions that she was keen to see the outcome of a number of trials and pilots of different ways to address the issue, which is a significant issue, of glass bottles going into landfill and not having appropriate recycling.

One thing that I realise some people might not be aware of is that although there is not a deposit scheme on wine and spirit bottles they can still be recycled at recycling depots. I just put that on the record so that anyone who is not aware might be able to spread the word around that. People taking their wine or spirit bottles to a recycling depot won't get money back for them, because we don't have a container deposit on them at the moment, but they can still take them there to be recycled, which I think is certainly one small step that people can participate in to address this issue, which is a very difficult one.