News

UK wine regulatory reform As noted in previous updates, the UK is undergoing significant reforms of its wine regulation under a phased approach. Both phase one, which was implemented in January 2024 and phase two, which will come into force in July 2024, are now complete. On 16 April 2024 the UK began consultation on …

Download the Australian Grape & Wine 2024 Budget Brief for Australian wine producers.

In the 2023–24 Budget, the Australian Government announced the biosecurity levy and charge (the BPL) as one of the funding sources for its election commitment to strengthen Australia’s biosecurity system through a new sustainable funding model. Under the new model, funding of the biosecurity system would be more broadly based and ‘shared across general taxpayers, …

Treasurer Jim Chalmers handed down the 2024-25 Federal Budget on Tuesday night and the third under the Albanese Government. The Budget papers revealed a $9.3 billion budget surplus in FY2023-24 – the first time a Government has delivered consecutive Budget surpluses in over a decade – with real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) at 1.75 per …

Dr Craig Emerson released his interim report into the Food and Grocery Code of Conduct on Monday 8th April.  The Review acknowledged there are market concentration issues in other retail industries in Australia, and that common issues can occur across industries, especially for perishable products. The Review acknowledged there are questions about whether the wine …

Our Director, Strategy & International Affairs, Damien Griffante has this month been representing the Australian wine sector at the OIV – International Organisation of Vine and Wine technical meeting in Dijon and World Wine Trade Group (WWTG) in Brussels. Australian Grape & Wine continues to advocate for international trade harmonization and the reduction of technical …

Today, on International Women’s Day, and in line with the 2023 Australian Women in Wine Symposium’s call to ACTION, Australian Grape & Wine celebrates the sector’s ACTION on gender equality with a positive step towards real change. The Workplace Gender Equality Agency’s recent report on gender pay gaps in Australia has sparked a wave of action within …

On 28 February the Government tabled a package of Bills in the House, intended to raise $50 million from producers as part of the revised biosecurity protection levy. Agriculture (Biosecurity Protection) Levies Bill 2024 Agriculture (Biosecurity Protection) Charges Bill 2024 Agriculture (Biosecurity Protection) Levies and Charges Collection Bill 2024 While the Charges Bill helpfully has …

The Senate Select Committee on Supermarket Prices has announced an initial set of dates to hear from industry participants who supply the supermarkets, either directly or indirectly. Hearings have been held in Hobart (7th March), Orange (12th March) and Melbourne (13th March) with further dates to be announced at the discretion of the Committee. Growers …

Codex Committee on Food Labelling As reported in previous member news Codex Committee on Food Labelling (CCFL) is preparing a paper for their next meeting (CCFL48) on alcohol labelling being led by the World Health Organization (WHO). A Circular Letter (CL) drafted by WHO CL 2024/13-FL was sent to Codex member countries for comment to …