NSW government pledges wine industry support if re-elected

NSW Wine President Mark Bourne and Deputy Premier and Minister for Regional NSW Paul Toole. Image NSW Wine

The NSW coalition has announced that if re-elected to government in the state, it will invest a further $3.8 million over four years in partnership with the state’s wine industry.

NSW Wine President Mark Bourne met yesterday with Deputy Premier and Minister for Regional NSW Paul Toole in Griffith to discuss the Coalition government’s commitment to sign a new Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with NSW Wine.

The MOU is focused on creating and maintaining a sustainable workforce, providing grapegrowers with access to more research and development opportunities, and boosting wine tourism in the regions.

“It is critical that as an industry we focus on growing our international profile, export more premium wine, undertake extensive research and development, and support the next generation of growers and producers to enter the industry,” Bourne said.

“This pledge from the Liberal and Nationals Government is a major commitment for the sector and builds on successes from our existing MOU.”

“This is an investment to keep growing our state’s $14 billion wine industry and to support it to tap into new opportunities to put more locally grown wines in front of consumers here and overseas and to bring more visitors to our regions’ vineyards to sample it for themselves,” NSW Deputy Premier Paul Toole said.

“This is a long-term commitment to secure the future of our State’s $14 billion wine industry and the jobs and skilled workforce that it creates,” NSW Minister for Agriculture Dugald Saunders added.

The MOU aims to deepen the partnership between the NSW wine industry and the NSW Government in the areas of tourism, trade, investment, primary industries and R&D.

DailyWineNews has reached out to the the NSW opposition for comment.