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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2023-10-31 Daily Xml
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Clare Valley Wine Industry

Ms PRATT (Frome) (15:27): There is much to attract people to the Clare Valley, there is much to celebrate about our fantastic region, no less than the tourism and the dining experiences, and I take this opportunity to celebrate and promote some of the internationally acclaimed and award-winning winemakers we have in our region.

Just recently three winemakers, no less, were acknowledged in the Halliday awards—so, three in the top 100—namely Grosset Wines, Adelina Wines and Rieslingfreak. I am delighted that today there is also fantastic news for Taylors which is the fantastic new cellar door in Auburn. They have won, to international acclaim, best wine in the world through the VINUS awards for their Taylors estate shiraz 2020 for $20 a bottle. I recommend that you get online, Mr Speaker, and have a look.

In celebrating the wineries, the winemakers and the growers in the region, it is important that we remind ourselves what is special about country SA, what is special about our wine regions, but also the pressure that they have been under most recently. Of course, I make reference to the challenges that growers and winemakers have faced with the tariff pressure placed on our exports through China. While we might see some relief coming, that has had a flow-on effect with oversupply of wine.

Sadly, on Thursday morning last week, the southern part of the Clare Valley—Auburn, Leasingham and Watervale—experienced an unprecedented black frost event, and the impact is still being assessed. I wish to raise the profile of that weather event to the level of this house, and to profile what might be a smaller boutique wine region contributing 1 per cent, but it packs a punch when it comes to its quality and, of course, its recognition on the world stage for riesling and shiraz.

I want to remind the residents and the growers, the businesses, the suppliers and the local council, as well as the Wine and Grape Growers Association, that they have my full support when it comes to a response that is going to be required, given the extent of the impact of this black frost on new buds late in the season, with the likelihood of some of these vines recovering for the 2024 vintage being very unlikely. While it is an enormous setback, the grape growers and the winemakers in the Clare Valley are made of heavier stuff, so I know that they will rebound and we will work together to find solutions that support that industry in the Clare Valley.

But it does take its toll on the wellbeing and the mental health of primary producers more broadly, and I have spent the better part of the month of October marking mental health month as declared by the World Health Organization. The theme this year has been to have a conversation. I think that is a very important step that we can all take to engage with our friends, family, colleagues and neighbours, to have a conversation, and take the conversation further than 'R U OK?', 'Just checking in', and 'How is it going?', but 'What can I do for you?' or 'What do you need?'

The discovery I have made in the last month interacting with our mental health workforce is actually for the very sombre and serious elements of their work how joyous they are. I want to make a shout out to John Mannion and the Breakthrough Foundation, to Geoff Harris and the Mental Heath Coalition. I attended the Lived Experience Workforce Awards and was surrounded by people who just love the work that they do. With great delight I attended the Talk Out Loud awards, a foundation imagined by Mary Galouzis who sadly lost her brother and has for many years now dedicated herself to this space. Country and Outback Health in Clare were hosting a breakfast that was to help us have that conversation, and, finally, in the city, a Mental Health Coalition round table was held to start to unpack the challenges that we face in this space.

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