Wine Australia is an Australian Government statutory corporation that promotes and regulates the Australian wine industry. It was created as the Australian Wine and Brandy Corporation (AWBC) in 1981 to replace the Australian Wine Board by the Australian Wine and Brandy Corporation Act 1980, and had its name changed by the amended Wine Corporation Act 1980, passed in December 2010. Wine Australia is now governed by the superseding law, Wine Australia Act 2013. Wine Australia determines the boundaries of Australia's wine regions and sometimes names them. Wine Australia also regulates wine exports, ensuring the quality and integrity of each shipment of wine exported. Wine Australia has three main departments; Compliance, Market Development and Knowledge Development.
Wine Australia has its headquarters in Adelaide.
History
Wine Australia is a type of statutory authority known as a statutory corporation, established by the Australian Government. It was originally created as the Australian Wine and Brandy Corporation, which was established to provide strategic support to the Australian wine sector. It was established as an Australian Government statutory corporation directed by a board appointed by the federal Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry at the time.
Australian Wine and Brandy Corporation Act 1980
In 1980, the Australian Wine and Brandy Corporation Act 1980 was passed, forming the AWBC authority that has progressed to the present. With the passing of this act, the functions of the Australian Wine and Brandy Corporation, and thus the purpose of its formation were declared. Holistically, this act lists out its explicit objectives Part 1 s3 (1):
(1) The objects of this Act are:
(a) to promote and control the export of grape products from Australia; and
(b) to promote and control the sale and distribution, after export, of Australian grape products; and
(c) to promote trade and commerce in grape products among the States, between States and Territories and within the Territories; and
(d) to improve the production of grape products, and encourage the consumption of grape products, in the Territories; and
(e) to enable Australia to fulfil its obligations under prescribed wine‑trading agreements and other international agreements;
and this Act shall be construed and administered accordingly.
The Australian Wine and Brandy Corporation Act 1980 was passed in Australian federal parliament to lawfully govern the operational activities of the Australian Wine and Brandy Corporation and the Australian wine regions respectively. This process involved the act being presented to the House of Representatives as a bill. In this form, it was subject to three readings and once ministers are satisfied, the bill was then sent to the Senate by the Sarjeant-at-Arms where the same three reading process is followed. The bill was then passed by both houses and given royal assent by the Governor General. The act itself, however came into effect 28 days after consent (in compliance with the legal policy) - known as date of proclamation.
The Wine Corporation Act 1980, an amended version of the Australian Wine and Brandy Corporation Act 1980, passed in December 2010, enacting a change of name to Wine Australia.
In 2013, this piece of legislation was amended and thus recompiled to include up to date modifications and to respond to the changing demands of the wine industry in Australia. As such, it now stands as the Wine Australia Corporation Act 2013 (Cth).
RDCs
The organisation is one of 15 Rural Research and Development Corporations (RDCs) in Australia, and one of the five that is a statutory corporation, along with AgriFutures, the Cotton Research and Development Corporation, the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation and the Grain Research and Development Corporation (the rest are industry-owned). They are funded largely by the government for the purposes of investing in R&D (research and development), with the aim of improving "profitability, productivity, competitiveness and long-term sustainability of Australia's primary industries".
Aims
The aims of Wine Australia include:
export regulation compliance
integrity maintenance
define wine region boundaries
strategic marketing
negotiating trade barrier reduction
provide statistics and analysis
Funding
Funding of all of the Wine Australia corporation’s endeavours is sourced primarily from the Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment.
