Australian Grape & Wine is relieved that the Wine Tourism and Cellar Door Grants program will continue after last week's Budget cancelled some grants program funding that had been promised by the Coalition government.
The community development grant program and the building better regions fund are now gone, replaced by the Australian government's promise of $1 billion in funding over the next three years for the growing regions program and regional precincts and partnerships program.
Australian Grape & Wine’s Chief Executive, Tony Battaglene said, “We are delighted that the Government has shown its commitment to Australian grape and wine businesses during a very challenging period for the sector.
“This grant helps Australia’s grape and wine businesses to invest in their cellar door offerings and employ local people. We know great cellar doors attract tourists to regional Australia and we also know these tourists tend to spend more money in regional communities when they visit, with benefits flowing from the vineyard through to the local pub and bakery.”
AGW says that grape growing, winemaking and wine-related tourism contributed an estimated $45.5b to the Australian economy in 2019 and that the sectors employs 160K people across Australia.
Under the Wine Tourism and Cellar Door Grants program, producers who meet the eligibility criteria in the preceding financial year can apply for a grant payment of 29 per cent of the notional wholesale selling price of their eligible domestic cellar door sales up to $100,000 (GST exclusive). Total funding under the grant program is capped at $10 million each financial year.
“We applaud the Government for listening to Australian winemakers and making the right call for regional communities in this budget," Battaglene said.
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