News

Invitation to upcoming online Q&A session regarding the commencement of the Queensland Container Refund Scheme on 1 November 2023. Please click on the link below to register:  Wednesday 25 October – 2pm Please submit the questions you have via their online form by 4pm the day prior to each session. Please remember the COEX team …

The Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry is undertaking consultation on the Wine Tourism and Cellar Door Grant Program. It is regular practice for all government programs to be reviewed, and the Wine Tourism and Cellar Door Grant Program is now in its fifth year so the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry is consulting …

WE NEED YOUR SUPPORT – Attend the next COEX Q&A session COEX will be holding an online Q&A session from 2.00pm – 3.00pm AEST on Wednesday September 27, 2023 to assist beverage manufacturers new to the scheme with questions about the registration process. Please click here to register and submit your questions here by 4pm …

Farm Household Allowance (FHA) provides help to eligible farmers, and their partners, experiencing financial hardship. It offers planning and training for long-term financial improvements. FHA is a package of assistance available to cash-strapped farming families, regardless of the source of the hardship. The assistance includes up to4 years of fortnightly income support in every 10-year …

New laws that will come into effect on 10 November 2023 will mean that unfair contract terms in standard form contracts will no longer be allowable and penalties for breaches of the law will apply. Australian Grape and Wine encourages wineries to avoid unfair conduct in their dealings with growers, to check their contract terms …

In August Federal Minister for Water Tanya Plibersek announced her intention to allow Commonwealth buybacks of irrigation licenses along the Murray Darling Basin to assist with the recovery of 450GL of water for the environment. The move will require the introduction of legislation to remove an existing cap on buy backs. This legislation will be …

The latest ABARES for wine and winegrapes was released this week. Their sobering projections reflect the long-term decline in global wine consumption and a wide-spread oversupply crisis. ABARES predict the value of Australian wine exports will continue to decline in 2023−24 to $1.9 billion, a decrease in value of 5%. Grape prices will also fall …

From 1 November 2023, the Queensland Container Refund Scheme (“CRS”) will be expanded to include wine bottles.  Consumers in Queensland will be able to redeem their wine bottles for a 10-cent refund within Queensland, and ‘beverage manufacturers’ (defined by legislation as either the maker, importer or distributor of the packaged beverage) will need to pay the scheme …

There have been a number of reports in recent weeks regarding the “breakdown” in the Australia -European Union (EU) Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiations. While both Australia and the EU had been publicly aiming to finalise the agreement by mid-2023, this urgency has recently been tempered. This is because the EU has continued to hold …

On 5 August 2023, China announced it would remove the 80 per cent duties on Australian barley which were first introduced in May 2020 in relation to dumping of Australian barley.  Australia initiated a World Trade Organization (WTO) dispute in December 2022 which was then suspended in April 2023 in order for China to conduct …