President, Holly Killingworth recently met with the Prime Minister, the Hon Anthony Albanese, and other Ministers and Members of Parliament. The delegation included Amanda Lampe, Chair of Bundaberg Rum and Adem Karifili, Executive Chair of Top Shelf International. The delegation was supported by the Australian Distillers Association Chief Executive, Paul McLeay, and the Chief Executive of Spirits and Cocktails Australia, Greg Holland.

The primary reason for the visit was to meet with the Hon Tim Ayers, Assistant Minister for Manufacturing and Assistant Minister for trade to advocate for a Parliamentary Inquiry into the spirits industry in Australia.

The delegation from The Australian Distillers Association also met with the Joint Chairs of the Parliamentary Friends of Australian Spirits (PFAS), Brain Mitchell MP and Senator Perin Davey. We discussed plans for the PFAS including a possible event during the first month of the new parliamentary calendar in 2023. The event will be supported by Spirits & Cocktails Australia.

Other meetings or receptions were held with included:

• Senator the Hon Don Farrell, Minister for Trade and Tourism
• The Hon Julie Collins MP, Minister for Small Business
• The Hon Patrick Gorman MP, Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister
• Mr Dan Repacholi MP, Member for Hunter
• Mr Luke Gosling MP, Chair of House Standing Committee on Regional Development, Infrastructure and Transport
• Sally Sitou MP
• The Hon Milton Dick MP, Speaker
• The Hon Madeleine King MP, Minister for Resources
• Ms Libby Coker MP, Member for Corangamite
• Hon Stephen Jones MP, Assistant Treasurer and Minister for Financial Services
• The Hon Michelle Rowland MP, Minister for Communications
• Dr Daniel Mulino MP, Member for Fraser, Chair of the House Standing Committee on Economics
• Ms Tania Lawrence MP, Member for Hasluck
• Alison Byrnes MP
• At one of the receptions we were also joined by local distillers from
• Underground Spirits,
• The Canberra Distillery and
• Big River Distilling Company.

Overall, the reception from the key parliamentarians was positive. We will continue to advocate for a wide-ranging parliamentary inquiry to review the policy settings that affect our members.