News

Successive governments’ policy means that beer made by an Australian owned small business is becoming unaffordable – at the pub, at your local brewery or over a BBQ in your back yard. 

This is the time for our members, their drinkers and the Australian voter to tell the major parties that they are sick to death of; the same old rhetoric and the promises that, on the surface, seem to help (but don’t really).

• We KNOW the two foreign owned breweries, backed by the Australian Hotels Association are setting the political agenda and making it harder for Australians to even find, let alone choose an independent beer. This has to stop and the government and ACCC are the ones with the power to do it.

• We NEED meaningful tax reform to create a fair economic environment for independent breweries. It IS possible – we’ve just seen it in relation to supermarkets.

• We DESERVE to be able to afford to support an Australian owned business – not a supermarket product in disguise or a Japanese-owned wolf in sheep’s clothing.

There now are at least 51 independent breweries that have now gone into voluntary administration, liquidation or closed in the past two years. That does not include the independent bottle shops, online retailers, distributors and hospitality provides that we are also seeing close in alarming numbers – leading to significant job losses.

Successive government inquiries have recommended; a review of the beer market due to its lack of competition and a review of the unfair alcohol tax regime.  And yet it’s crickets from the two major parties when it comes to overall reform.

We know it’s because big beer and the AHA donate significantly to their campaigns and therefore influence policy decisions.

Despite all their rhetoric about supporting small businesses, the major parties have watched the independent brewing industry wither in favour of duopolies and done nothing.

But in our system of government, we have the power to get the major political parties to pay attention to independent brewers and more importantly – beer drinkers a.k.a voters.

There are more swing and soft voters in Australia this election than at any time in modern history. “Our polling finds the majority of Australians want a fundamental change in the way that government works in this country,”

“A lot of soft and swing voters want more options to be on the table, rather than a choice between modest tax cuts and cheaper fuel.” said YouGov’s director of public data Paul Smith in a recent ABC article.

Australian beer drinkers are being forced to pay an excessive and unfair tax on their beer – while government’s do nothing about getting big oil to pay their fair share. Now to borrow a phrase from the Prime Minister, that’s what we’d call ‘taking the piss.’

Our own independent polling has shown that 60% of soft voters want the excise tax to stop increasing and 53% of voters want the government to undertake an inquiry into the competition in the beer industry.

So now, we are saying – a vote for the major parties is a vote for the status quo. This election we’re encouraging indie beer lovers everywhere to ask questions and to take a good look at which candidate actually has the courage to commit to the necessary reforms to #saveindiebeer.