Wine industry stakeholders are disappointed after their request for an $86m relief package was not included in the federal budget.Australian Grape and Wine chief executive Lee McLean says he'll speak with federal and state ministers about funding relief for the industry.
The fallout from the crisis is being felt acutely in South Australia's Riverland, Australia's largest wine producing region, where Maria Sialas is among several contractors assessing the viability of their businesses. But telling her adult children that it was unviable for them to take on the family business was even tougher."We can't afford all of us to be in the family business, where eight years ago we could.Australian Grape and Wine requested an $86-million recovery package from the federal government in the latest budget, but no sector-specific funding was included in the announcement this week.
" very little in the budget for the Riverland, but the most pressing is obviously the situation of the wine industry," he said.In a statement a government spokesperson said that the budget included several measures to assist the industry, including $2m to re-establish commercial connections in China and $487.9m for AusTrade's export market development grant program.