Wine Grapegrowers

The Hon. N.J. CENTOFANTI (Leader of the Opposition) (14:25): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development a question on wine grapegrower land diversification.

Leave granted.

The Hon. N.J. CENTOFANTI: The oversupply in commercial wine is a global phenomenon, and it seems inevitable that there will need to be vineyard removals here in South Australia, as is now happening in wine producing regions internationally. A national wine sector organisation, Australian Grape and Wine, asserts:

If we don't make a relatively modest investment now we could face bigger problems down the track, with a mass exodus from these towns, high rates of unemployment and pressure on schools.

We have asked the Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development numerous questions to find out the measures the government is taking to provide assistance to wine grapegrowers, particularly to the Riverland region. The minister has listed some of those short-term assistance measures in relation to support and some assistance to boosting markets for South Australian wine, measures which are of course welcomed.

However, reinvigorating the much-reduced China wine market is unlikely on its own to correct the oversupply problem and provide an answer to the challenges faced by the state's grapegrowers and winemakers. It is of paramount importance that, as vineyards are removed, productive agricultural land is not left bare and that these growers left with few options, other than pulling out vines, are provided with options and, where appropriate, assistance to convert their businesses to a sustainable footing.

This is essential to preserve the socio-economic wellbeing of regional communities and represents an investment into the future of the state. My questions to the minister are:

1. What modelling has her government done in anticipation of the potential impacts of the likely transition on the state's regional areas?

2. What measures is the government planning to ensure that productivity of agricultural land is preserved as growers around the state decide to remove areas of vineyards?

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN (Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development, Minister for Forest Industries) (14:27): I thank the honourable member for her question. It is interesting that she says that wine pulls are inevitable: I think there is certainly some active and live debate around that. One of the reasons for that live debate is the lack of data, particularly in other states, around demand and supply. Members will recall that on my initiation there is now a federal working group looking at the national viticulture and wine sector, and that involves all the other states and territories that have an interest, as well as the commonwealth government.

One of the things they have done is met and had meetings within each of the inland wine regions of New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia, as well as having multiple meetings with various stakeholders. One thing that is clear is that we have excellent data here in South Australia and that is through the vine health register. There is not the same level of data available in other states. That means there is a lot of debate around the supply.

We have perhaps a better understanding of demand, because that is a reasonably transparent market measure, but in terms of supply we do not have nationally the data we need. That is one piece of information that will be coming back, I would imagine, through the working group, because it is something that has been raised on a number of occasions.

It is really important that we do have that information because, as again I think I have mentioned here before, there are state implications for any kind of measure. If there was a vine pull, for example, in the Riverland, but not an equivalent reduction in supply just over the border, the positive benefits in terms of addressing the imbalance are likely to be continuous, if not non-existent. That is why there needs to be the holistic approach, the national approach that I advocated for, and I look forward to hearing more about what the working group has been able to ascertain as we go forward.