The beleaguered wine industry has been thrown a potential lifeline with the creation of a viticulture and wine sector working group to address challenges facing winegrape growers.
Australia's agriculture ministers agreed to establish the group at a meeting last Friday.
It will be compromised of representatives of the Commonwealth, state and territory governments, Wine Australia, Australian Grape and Wine and other relevant groups.
APW chief executive Lee McLean welcomed the help for growers experiencing "acute financial pressure" as a result of supply and demand imbalances, particularly in the Riverland region of South Australia, New South Wales' Riverina and the Murray Valley in Victoria.
"It's pleasing the group will focus on ways we can work together to relieve these pressures," he said.
Mr McLean said AGW had also put several proposals to the government ahead of the Federal Budget to help find a pathway through the current challenges.
Growers have also welcomed the prospect of China lifting its crippling sanctions on Australian wine exports.
The working group will be expected to visit regions most impacted by the oversupply and report back to Agriculture Ministers out of session by the end of April 2024.
The working group will also propose actions to support improvement in the grape and wine sector and its long-term viability by July.
Agriculture Minister Murray Watt said the working group's report would compliment other industry and government activities to grow new trade opportunities and support growers who had faced numerous challenges in recent years, including "natural disasters, COVID-19, freight and supply chain issues (and) changes in consumer preferences."
He said the government had also worked to stabilise Australia's relationship with China "and we are pleased that China has agreed to review the punitive tariffs it imposed on Australian wine."
Prior to the introduction of the duties, China was Australia's largest export market for wine. At its peak it was worth $1.1 billion in 2019 but China's duties effectively blocked all wine trade.
Government assistance currently also includes the Farm Management Deposit scheme, concessional loans through the Regional Investment Corporation and Wine Australia's Grape Price Indicators dashboard launched at the end of October.
The Stock Journal recently reported that 175 Riverland growers had pleaded for government assistance to "get through one of the toughest times in the sector in living memory."
Meanwhile, a curious by-play during the meeting saw Western Australia agriculture minister Jackie Jarvis declaring a potential conflict of interest and not participating in discussion on the taskforce.
Ms Jarvis has listed a commercial interest in a WA vineyard and appears likely to have retained holdings in that investment despite being elevated to the agriculture ministry.
Federal Trade and Tourism Minister Don Farrell sold his winemaking business, the eponymously named Farrell Wines, in 2022 following his appointment to avoid conflicts with his ministerial role.
