Latest / Early Edition with Ryan Bridge / Tim Ward: Abandoned Brewery Founder and Director on the call to freeze the draught beer excise tax

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Tim Ward: Abandoned Brewery Founder and Director on the call to freeze the draught beer excise tax · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Australia's just frozen draft bear excise to relieve some pressure
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: on local pubs and can we brewers here are calling
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: for the same to be done. Our excise tax rises
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: automatically every year, as you know if you go to
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: the pub. Well, beer consumption has fallen to the lowest
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: level on record. Tim Ward from Abandoned Breweries with me
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: this morning. Hey, Tim, how are you doing right?
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: Yeah?
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: Really good, thank you. So what can you explain to
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: us what the Aussies have done?
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: Yeah? What the Ausies have done is they've put a
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: freeze on excise tax, as you said, to put give
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: relief to breweries. But they've actually gone a step further
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: and they've frozen up to fifty thousand liters for crafts breweries.
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: And so how much are they saving.
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: Well, it's roughly twenty percent of the retail price that
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: you've seen on shelves. So if you're purchasing a product
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: and craft beers in a four to forty more can
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: center around say ten dollars or twelve dollars, that's twenty
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: percent of that is going straight into the government's coffers.
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: Is this twenty sorry? Just craft bear that we're talking
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: about here or all beer.
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: We're talking about all beer. But what the Australians did
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: sometime ago is they provided relief directly to craft brewers,
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: really to give the small guys an opportunity to survive.
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: It's not really a level playing field when you've got
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: you've got large companies with huge efficiencies able to produce
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: product and mass and then sell it at a very
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: very low price, competing with small businesses which have got
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: much higher costs and smaller volumes.
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: How do you separate out who's big who's small? And
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: is the excise not just on alcohol rather than beer
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: or wine or anything specific x.
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: Those taxes alcohol by volume? I think the bigger question
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: is what is the excise tax trying to achieve? And
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: essentially it's an offset to the cost of alcohol harm
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: and garage consumption, and in my opinion, it's a very
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: blunt instrument. There are several other ways to reduce alcohol
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: harm that could be more successful, like what well, there
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: was a recommendation in twenty twelve and the last sellar
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: Licor Act which was ignored, and that's to split the
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: drinking age between off premise and on premise. Essentially off
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: premise would go up to twenty and on premise would
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: stay at eighteen. The sery there is that bars and
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: restaurants are highly regulated environments where start are on hand
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: at all times to check alcohol consumption and individuals, whereas
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: it an off premise an eighteen year old could walk
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: in still in school in school uniform and their connectivity
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: with somebody who's much younger is still there because of
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: their school relationship, whereas a twenty year old is much
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: less likely to buy alcohol.
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: For a young person, is this actually an argument that's
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: a little bit redundant? Now? Young people aren't drinking anywhere
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: near as much as we used to when we were younger,
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: and they're not buying as much alcohol. That's your real problem, and.
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: That probably plays into why it's such a blunt instrument
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: these days. Young people aren't drinking as much alcohol, and
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: the excise tax is really just a massive revenue collection
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: for the government that's too too great for them to ignore.
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: So you actually, what you're saying is they are responsible
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: enough to handle cheaper booze.
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: No, what I'm saying, like the other thing that would
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: help with alcohol halmers and was recommended in twenty twelve
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: in a law Commission report was a minimum drink pricing
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: so that big liquor couldn't gain the efficiencies. They had
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: to set a minimum unit price for alcohol. Let's say retailers,
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: not the big liquor others had to set a minimum
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: drink price, and that would just reduce accessibility to larger
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: quantities to the consumer.
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: Like, I'm on board with what you're saying, and God,
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: I'd love cheaper, cheaper beer at the pub, and craft
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: beer in particular would be lovely. But then is what
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: about any other industry where you have big players who
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: have economies of scale, who can make stuff cheaper versus
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: your smaller guys I mean peck an industry, and you'll
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: find the same problem.
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: I don't think you're ever going to get cheaper bus.
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: I think the.
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: Freezing of the excise tax or a concession for artisan
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: businesses is going to go straight to the back pockets
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: of those small businesses. The price is going to stay
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: relatively the same for the consumer. Small businesses craft wers
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: have struggle for years and they're unable to pass on
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: discounts that they might get from suppliers or from a
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: drop in the excise tax or a freezing excise.
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: Gotcha, yeah, yeah, no, got you a term. Appreciate your
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: update this morning. Thank you, good luck with the mission.
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: Tim Ward, founder and director at Abandoned Breweries. For more
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: from Early Edition with Ryan Bridge, listen live to News
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: Talks at B from five am weekdays, or follow the
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: podcast on iHeartRadio