Christine Milne (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Joint Select Committee on Australia's Clean Energy Future Legislation be authorised to hold a public meeting during the sitting of the Senate on Wednesday, 21 September 2011, from 9.30 am to noon.

Question agreed to.

I move:

That the Senate—

  (a)   notes that:

     (i)   microbreweries are important niche businesses in Australia, providing valuable job opportunities and economic growth, particularly in rural and regional areas,

     (ii)   microbreweries need recognition within the tax system through the Microbrewery Refund, given that they are competing in a domestic market heavily dominated by large multinational companies,

     (iii)   the Microbrewery Refund was introduced in 2000 and that the definition of a microbrewery has not been reviewed and is now markedly out of step with industry reality; and

     (iv)   the maximum excise refund has remained capped at $10 000, while the beer excise has been raised twice a year for the past 11 years with the consumer price index; and

  (b)   calls on the Government to amend:

     (i)   the definition of a microbrewery under regulation 2AB of the Excise Regulations 1925, so that a microbrewery is defined as a brewery that produces up to 300 000 litres of beer annually, replacing the current maximum volume of 30 000 litres, and

     (ii)   paragraph 50(1)(zzd) of the Excise Regulations 1925 to remove the maximum of $10 000 excise refund that can be claimed in a financial year.