RICHARD:
G’day. I would just like to welcome everybody to BentSpoke Brewing Company on this momentous day for the Australian beer industry. Firstly, just like to introduce the Federal Treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, Chair of the IBA, Peter Phillip. This has been a long time coming for the Australian beer industry. I've been around 25 years in the brewing industry in Australia and this is the biggest one of the biggest things that's ever happened in the brewing industry. This is going to allow small brewers like us to be able to employ more people, be able to buy more equipment, and be able to continue to grow our Australian owned independent brewery. I would like to hand over to the Federal Treasurer for more comments.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, thanks, Richard. Great to be here with you and Peter, and thanks for the warm welcome and great opportunity to meet with your staff today. Today, the Morrison Government is providing a $250 million boost to the distillers and brewers around Australia, with a more than tripling in the rebate for excise paid to these brewers and distillers from $100,000 today to $350,000, bringing it on par with what happens in the wine industry. This, as Richard said, this change will allow these small businesses right around Australia, particularly in rural and regional Australia, where two thirds of them are currently set up, to go and hire more people, to go and invest in their business to grow, to get the new equipment and machinery that they need. This business and this sector has grown more than tenfold over the last decade. There are around 1,000 micro brewers and distillers right around the country. A lot of these have become household names like BentSpoke here, as well as Lark and Four Pillars, distilleries in Tasmania and Victoria. These businesses are right around Australia. And they're helping to generate jobs. And they're producing great products for us all to drink. So today, the drinks are on us. This is an investment in a growing sector of the economy. And it's an opportunity for them to now go and put more money in their pockets so they can expand their business and that they can hire more Australians.
PETER PHILLIP:
Yeah, thanks, Treasurer, absolutely backup what you just said. This money is really going to go towards creating a whole new Australian-owned beer industry, right around Australia. So small brewers and distillers are going to be pumping this money into technology, capability, capacity, and most importantly, people. Because that's what makes this industry happen. We're forecast to create over 7,000 jobs over the next five years. And that's going to come with small breweries like this. Consumers really want to support small, locally owned independent beer in Australia. And this is just going to make that happen. We've got a vision of having a small brewery in every town in Australia. And, you know, I want to thank you, Treasurer, this is really going to help make that happen.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Great. Are there any questions?
QUESTION:
What does this mean to the price of beer? Are we going to be drinking at 1999 prices?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
I don't know. Were you old enough to drink back then, JK? I will leave that to Rich. But I did read this morning that some of the brewers and distillers said this may be an opportunity to shave a couple of bucks off a keg. But you know, ultimately, what we want is these businesses to expand and to hire more people and to know that 15,000 Australians are employed in these micro brewers and distillers right around the country, and to see these businesses grow and to export and to hire is really what we're focused on.
RICHARD:
Yeah, look, we feel that the product we create, the craft beer is competitively priced. It's a hard product to make. It requires a lot of special ingredients that requires a lot of labour. And we'll be focusing on increasing our labour force to be able to meet demand and investing in new equipment and technology to make our beer even better than it is
QUESTION:
For a business like yours, how many jobs do you think it could make?
RICHARD:
Look, we've already got four job adverts currently running at the moment. So as we expand we'd like to think that we would be growing our brewery impact team from around the 20 person mark that it is now, up to 25-30 people.
QUESTION:
Treasurer, you’re putting together a Budget during the height of a pandemic. Describe what the Budget will look like in a few words and you've said you want to incentivise jobs, how?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
It’s all about jobs and services because we will have major packages in the Budget on aged care and, obviously, continue to support for disability services, as well as significant support for mental health. When it comes to creating jobs, it's about using our tax system as we are today. Not to boost profits, but to actually create more jobs. And to create more investment. That's what today's announcement is all about. We'll also be boosting infrastructure spending, so we have a more productive economy. We've got a whole series of energy infrastructure projects that are designed to reduce the cost of energy, and to make sure it's more reliable. And of course, workforce skills is a really big issue. There are, in fact, some shortages that we're seeing in some sectors around the economy. So we're going to match those skills that our institutions are training people in with the skills that are needed by industry. So you'll see a focus right across the Budget in just over a week's time on jobs. And today, here at BentSpoke, where you've got 97 people, I think you were saying, Rich, before, that's an increase as a result of this business growing and, of course, the more money that they get through the tax system, the more money they can invest.
QUESTION:
You had a drink of the product here this morning, is it right to be toasting yourself and your Budget when the Government has just announced it's going to effectively threaten 9,000 Australians with jail if they try to come home?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
We're not toasting ourselves. We're toasting the successful businesses that were backing…
QUESTION:
But what about the 9,000 Australians you’ve decided that you can threaten with jail if they want to come home (inaudible)?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
There's two parts to your question, Jono. Firstly, there is no room for complacency. The Morrison Government is firmly focused on helping Australians get to the other side of this pandemic and we are still in the pandemic. That is why the Budget settings are designed to support the health measures that we have put in place that have seen Australia suppress the virus more successfully than any other country around the world. Equally on the economic side, we have avoided the fate of the United Kingdom, the United States with those huge job losses, and the big falls in economic growth. Here in Australia, we have outperformed all major advanced economies. With respect to India and the decision that we have taken recently with the Biosecurity Act, the situation in India is dire. It is very serious. More than 200,000 people have died and there are more than 300,000 new cases a day. When National Cabinet met, they received the most up to date briefing from our Chief Medical Officers and their advice is that we need to put in place these secure measures with respect to people coming from India to Australia, so they are temporary, they will be reviewed on 15 May, but they are designed, based on the medical advice, to keep Australians safe.
QUESTION:
The country is literally running out of oxygen though. They can't treat their own people. It is just irresponsible to keep Australians there, isn’t it?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, the best thing to do is get supplies into India, which is what we’re doing - ventilators, masks, other PPE equipment. We are doing everything we can to support India at this very difficult time. We also have to protect Australians. The situation in India is dire and very serious and we need to take and act on the medical advice that is provided to us. That's what we did at the start of this pandemic, that's what we are doing throughout this pandemic.
QUESTION:
Treasurer, does the Australian passport mean nothing now that there are 9,000 Australians stranded. (inaudible) effectively said there are no mercy flights home. "You are stuck in a country that is ravaged with coronavirus."
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
This is a temporary measure. As we said yesterday from the Health Minister…
QUESTION:
What good is that to the 9,000 Australians who are in India?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Our focus is to keep Australians safe. With respect to the measure that we introduced yesterday on the Biosecurity Act, it is temporary, it is based on the medical advice and it will be revised on 15 May.
QUESTION:
How do you justify locking Australians out of their own country?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Again, we have taken the medical advice, implementing it and ensuring Australians are safe. We are in the middle, Jonathan, of a once in a century pandemic.
QUESTION:
(inaudible) quarantine is not working? If you can't bring these people home and put them into quarantine, what is the problem?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Again, it is about what our quarantine system can handle with the number of cases coming from India. The situation in India is, as I say...
QUESTION:
So you are leaving Australians there?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
The situation in India, as I said, is very dire and very serious. We are working with international partners to get support into India with medical devices, with ventilators, with PPE equipment and other support...
QUESTION:
What are the chances of those things getting to Australians stuck in India are very slim. These are foreigners in India now. To them, it is unlikely that Australian will get a look-in?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
We have taken drastic action to keep Australians safe, and what we face in India is a very serious situation where the medical advice provided to the Federal Government has been to put in place these strict measures. We've acted on the medical advice.
QUESTION:
But is there (inaudible) justification saying to Australians that they have a maternal right to come home? You said to them, effectively now, "if you want to come home, as an Australian citizen, you can go to prison for five years."
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
We've put in place a temporary measure that will be reviewed on 15 May.
QUESTION:
You’re going to threaten Australians with five years' imprisonment for Australians coming home to their own country.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Jonathan, this is a very drastic action, but designed to keep Australians safe, it's temporary, based on medical advice and will be reviewed on 15 May. Thank you.