Currently, excise duty on beer and spirits in Australia rises twice a year, in February and August, in line with inflation.
"If re-elected at the upcoming federal election, the government will freeze the indexation of draft beer excise duty for two years, which is a win for beer drinkers, brewers and hoteliers," Albanese said in a statement.
He said the measure, which will come into effect in August, would ease pressure on the price of easy open end beer in bars and clubs across the country and support local businesses and regional tourism.
Australia's latest excise duty increase on alcohol, which ranges between 2 and 3 per cent, came into effect on February 3.
Prime Minister Albanese said it was a "common sense measure". "My government is building Australia's future and to do that, we need to support our small and medium-sized local businesses to thrive," he said. Freezing excise duty on draft beer is a common-sense measure that is good for beer drinkers, brewers and pubs."
However, for spirits producers and drinkers, as well as the entire distillation supply chain, the move has not been embraced.
Spirits & Cocktails Australia chief executive Greg Holland said there was no policy basis for freezing draft beer excise duty alone.
"Spirits duty is already three times higher than beer duty, and freezing only draft beer excise duty is highly discriminatory in every sense - it favours beer drinkers over spirits drinkers, brewers over distillers, pubs over pubs," he said.
The chief executive of the Australian Distillers Association, Paul McLeay, said it was disappointing to see the government "so favouring the beer industry".
The alcohol tax generates millions of dollars in revenue for the government.
Alcohol is woven into the social life and identity of many Australians, but researchers expect abstinence to grow in the coming years, driven by health concerns and rising prices.
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