AMELIA BERNASCONI, HOST: You're listening to ABC Upper Hunter. We're broadcasting this morning from Muswellbrook from the former Oak factory, former wine bottling company here too, but the new lease on life will be rum and brandy inside these doors. There's quite the potential as you were hearing earlier from the Sydney Rum Distillery team. We're joined now by the Assistant Minister for a Future Made in Australia, Senator Tim Ayres. Thanks for coming out.
SENATOR TIM AYRES, ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR A FUTURE MADE IN AUSTRALIA AND ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR TRADE: Hi, Amelia. It's really good to be here. You get a big crowd for a rum distillery at 7:00 AM in the morning in Muswellbrook.
HOST: And I hear they're not actually doing tastings yet.
SENATOR AYRES: No.
HOST: So, the draw card is a genuine one.
SENATOR AYRES: Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. They've really done a fantastic job. It's so exciting to see such a big enterprise starting up. This is what the Upper Hunter needs, is industrial diversification. Absolutely terrific.
HOST: Because you and I have spoken a lot about solar and, you know, we always talk about energy, but this is probably an untapped market in a way. And we've actually heard, we'll hear a bit later from the Australian Distillers Association that they said there's a lot of former miners that are actually turning to distilling.
SENATOR AYRES: Yeah. I think what we're going to see is, firstly, with the Future Made in Australia program, support for manufacturing, we're going to see good jobs for young people in country towns. That's what the Government's program is all about. Of course, we've got to keep the focus on energy because the Government's objective here is to secure low cost, reliable energy as a competitive advantage for Australian manufacturing. That's the purpose here. People talk about the energy and the electricity system in a sort of abstract kind of way.
HOST: We all rely on it.
SENATOR AYRES: We rely on it. And this business, low-cost energy, is going to be really important.
HOST: Absolutely. Just to see this investment in small country towns and I think about half the distilleries are actually in regional areas, so that's an exciting opportunity in itself. But to see something that sat idle for five years now taking on a whole new industry, that must be quite exciting for regional areas and the potential for this to be replicated elsewhere.
SENATOR AYRES: Well, who would have thought distilleries would have been such a feature of the Australian regional economy. There are hundreds of them in regional areas we’re paying close attention to the sector, the Prime Minister announced just a few weeks ago a shift in the threshold so that firms like this and particularly the small distillers, largely in regional areas, that's cash straight to their bottom line. Supports the growth of their business. Looking very closely at the opportunities for export too for distillers, particularly into Southeast Asia where there's a market sort of ready to go. These firms are going to employ thousands of Australians. They're good jobs. It's an interesting sector. It's absolutely terrific. This is the old Oak facility. Used to be 70 dairies around Muswellbrook. You think about the waves of change and those dairies don't exist anymore. I think people will be pretty excited to see the old Oak facility being used for something so modern and employ so many people.
HOST: Once again you mentioned the government's ambitions of bringing down low-cost energy and everyone you know would be grateful for that, seeing low power bills. But when it comes to the distilling, the spirit making industry in itself, they're calling for a review, a freeze and a review of the alcohol excise. Just to sort of take check of where we are in 2025. Is that something that your government's looking at?
SENATOR AYRES: Well, we're going to keep working with them. They've got a very effective strident distillers association that's been making the case to government all the way through this term. They represent a lot of firms. You know, sometimes industry associations aren't as close to the grassroots as this outfit has been. They're making a really strong case and we're going to keep working with them. That's all I can say.
HOST: Is that a firm commitment?
SENATOR AYRES: Not this morning, not at 7 o'clock at a rum distillery, but this is a very exciting development. We're going to keep working with them in terms of the domestic market but also looking at access to new markets overseas. It's part of what our trade diversification strategy has got to be about.
HOST: Yeah, they're very confident they can hit a billion dollar, you know, export market if the government comes with the support. They're also asking for a body much like the government helps set up Wine Australia. They want sort of a Spirits Australia equivalent. Is that something that you can support them with?
SENATOR AYRES: Well, you've obviously been very well briefed by the Distillers Association.
HOST: Well, it is an election year.
SENATOR AYRES: They are doing very good. We're going to keep working with them if we're re-elected, we will keep it up too because they, they do make a strong case for hundreds of distilleries around regional Australia. And this venture here is just one of, just one of the distilleries around the place. It's big news for Muswellbrook. There's been a lot of hot air from our opponents about Muswellbrook. I reckon this place will employ more people than Barnaby Joyce's and Peter Dutton's nuclear power station that they are proposing to launch into this community whether people like it here or not. This is a real thing delivering jobs right now and, and I'm just delighted to be part of the event.
HOST: Well, I'll let you get in there because it's all starting very soon but thank you for your time on ABC Upper Hunter.
SENATOR AYRES: Terrific.
HOST: Thank you. Senator Tim Ayres, the Assistant Minister for a Future Made in Australia with you on ABC Upper Hunter.
ENDS.
