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Enabling legislation

The Australian Grape and Wine Authority was established by section 6 of the Australian Grape and Wine Authority Act 2013 and continues in existence by force of section 6 of the Wine Australia Act as a body corporate, under the name Wine Australia.

Functions

Section 7 of the Wine Australia Act provides that Wine Australia has the following functions:

a) to investigate and evaluate the requirements for grape or wine R&D

b) to coordinate or fund the carrying out of grape or wine R&D activities

c) to:

i. monitor

ii. evaluate, and

iii. report to the Parliament, the Minister and the representative organisations on grape or wine R&D activities that are coordinated or funded, wholly or partly, by the Authority;

d) to:

i. assess, and

ii. report to the Parliament, the Minister and the representative organisations on the impact, on the grape industry or wine industry, of grape or wine R&D activities that are coordinated or funded, wholly or partly, by the Wine Australia

ea) to implement, facilitate and administer programs, as directed by the Minister, in relation to:

i. wine, and

ii. cider (as defined by section 33–1 of the A New Tax System (Wine Equalisation Tax) Act 1999), and

iii. international wine tourism, and services, products and experiences that complement international wine tourism

eb) to administer grant programs in relation to wine (as defined by section 33–1 of the A New Tax System (Wine Equalisation Tax) Act 1999), as directed by the Minister

e) to facilitate the dissemination, adoption and commercialisation of the results of grape or wine R&D

f) to control the export of grape products from Australia

g) to promote the consumption and sale of grape products, both in Australia and overseas

h) such other functions as are conferred on the Authority by:

i. this Act

ii. the regulations, or

iii. any other law

i) to do anything incidental to, or conducive to, the performance of any of the above functions

Objects

The objects of the Wine Australia Act are:

a) to support grape or wine R&D activities

aa) to support the growth of the wine industry, and other industries that make wine (within the meaning of section 33-1 of the A New Tax System (Wine Equalisation Tax) Act 1999)

ab) to support the growth of international wine tourism, and services, products and experiences

b) to control the export of grape products from Australia

c) to promote the consumption and sale of grape products, both in Australia and overseas, and

d) to enable Australia to fulfil its obligations under prescribed wine trading agreements and other international agreements.

Responsible Minister

During the year in review, Senator the Hon. Bridget McKenzie as Minister of Agriculture was our responsible Minister until 2 February 2020. Responsibility moved to The Hon. David Littleproud, as Minister for Agriculture, Drought and Emergency Management from 6 February 2020.

Ministerial directions

Ministerial direction may be given to Wine Australia by the responsible Minister under section 31K of the Wine Australia Act, or by the Finance Minister under section 22 of the PGPA Act. No such direction was given in the period under review.

Key activities and changes affecting the Authority

No significant changes were implemented that affected the Authority.

Judicial decisions and reviews by outside bodies

During the review period Wine Australia was not the subject of any:

• judicial or administrative tribunal decisions that have had, or may have, a significant impact on our operations, or
• reports by the Auditor-General (other than the report on the financial statements), or a Parliamentary committee.

Freedom of information

Part 2 of the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act) establishes the Information Publication Scheme (IPS) for Australian government agencies subject to the FOI Act. The IPS commenced on 1 May 2011 and requires agencies to publish a broad range of information on their websites where possible. To find out more about the IPS see www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-information/accessing-agency-information/information-publication-scheme/.
Wine Australia is subject to the FOI Act and is required to comply with IPS requirements. As such, we prepared an Agency Plan (the Plan) as required by section 8(1) of the FOI Act. The Plan describes how we implement and administer the IPS in respect of our information holdings. In recognition that public sector information is a national resource managed for public purposes, we built and fostered an agency culture that embraced appropriate proactive disclosure of our information holdings, leading to successful implementation and administration of the IPS.

Environmental objectives

In accordance with the requirements of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999, it is reported that we:

• supported the principles of ecologically sustainable development and sought to ensure that our activities accorded with those objectives by taking economic, environmental, social and equitable considerations into account in the decision-making process
• aimed to enhance the operating environment for the benefit of the Australian wine sector – contributing to ecologically sustainable development by facilitating the development of the sector in a sustainable and responsible manner, and
• cared for the environment by minimising the consumption of power and recycling waste products where practicable and ensuring our activities had minimal impact on the environment.

Privacy policy

Our privacy policy is published on our website. The policy reflects the introduction of the Australian Privacy Principals that came into effect in March 2014 and the General Data Protection Regulation introduced in the European Union on 25 May 2018.

Indemnities and insurance premiums for officers

Wine Australia had Directors’ and Officers’ Liability insurance through ComCover. The insurer recommended that details of the policy and the premium paid not be disclosed. No indemnities have been provided to any current or former officers.