8Excise Tariff Amendment (Draught Beer) Bill 2025
The order of the day having been read for the resumption of the debate on the question—That the bill be now read a second time—And on the amendment moved thereto by Ms Steggall, viz.—That all words after “That” be omitted with a view to substituting the following words:
“whilst not declining to give the bill a second reading, the House:
(1)notes that:
(a)our local independent breweries and spirit distilleries are in crisis;
(b)brewers and distilleries carry a huge financial burden, from growing inflationary pressure to the price of energy, and issues around staffing and the rising cost of alcohol excise taxation;
(c)excise on beer and spirits has increased by more than 17 per cent since 2020, adding significant strain on our brewers and the spirits industry;
(d)according to the Independent Brewers Association, at least 51 independent brewing businesses entered voluntary administration or closed in the two years to April 2025, as mounting costs and rising excise made it harder to stay viable;
(e)Australia’s spirits tax remains indexed to CPI twice a year and is one of the highest spirits taxes in the world; and
(f)while this bill provides relief in taxation for draught beer it does not extend this assistance to these other producers; and
(2)calls on the Government to:
(a)freeze indexation of all alcohol excise taxes until at least 1 August 2027;
(b)index the excise remission cap annually in line with inflation; and
(c)extend the deadlines for payback of excise debt to the ATO”—
And on the amendment moved thereto by Mr Joyce, viz.—That all words after “House” be omitted with a view to substituting the following words:
“calls on the Government to support hospitality venues struggling under the growing burden of government regulation and growth in overheads by eliminating alcohol excise duty on any alcoholic product sold for consumption on-premises in a hospitality venue”—
Debate resumed.