President, Holly Killingworth recently met with the Prime Minister, the Hon Anthony Albanese, and other Ministers and Members of Parliament. The delegation included Amanda Lampe, Chair of Bundaberg Rum and Adem Karifili, Executive Chair of Top Shelf International. The delegation was supported by the Australian Distillers Association Chief Executive, Paul McLeay, and the Chief Executive of Spirits and Cocktails Australia, Greg Holland.

The primary reason for the visit was to meet with the Hon Tim Ayers, Assistant Minister for Manufacturing and Assistant Minister for trade to advocate for a Parliamentary Inquiry into the spirits industry in Australia.

The delegation from The Australian Distillers Association also met with the Joint Chairs of the Parliamentary Friends of Australian Spirits (PFAS), Brain Mitchell MP and Senator Perin Davey. We discussed plans for the PFAS including a possible event during the first month of the new parliamentary calendar in 2023. The event will be supported by Spirits & Cocktails Australia.

Other meetings or receptions were held with included:

• Senator the Hon Don Farrell, Minister for Trade and Tourism
• The Hon Julie Collins MP, Minister for Small Business
• The Hon Patrick Gorman MP, Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister
• Mr Dan Repacholi MP, Member for Hunter
• Mr Luke Gosling MP, Chair of House Standing Committee on Regional Development, Infrastructure and Transport
• Sally Sitou MP
• The Hon Milton Dick MP, Speaker
• The Hon Madeleine King MP, Minister for Resources
• Ms Libby Coker MP, Member for Corangamite
• Hon Stephen Jones MP, Assistant Treasurer and Minister for Financial Services
• The Hon Michelle Rowland MP, Minister for Communications
• Dr Daniel Mulino MP, Member for Fraser, Chair of the House Standing Committee on Economics
• Ms Tania Lawrence MP, Member for Hasluck
• Alison Byrnes MP
• At one of the receptions we were also joined by local distillers from
• Underground Spirits,
• The Canberra Distillery and
• Big River Distilling Company.

Overall, the reception from the key parliamentarians was positive. We will continue to advocate for a wide-ranging parliamentary inquiry to review the policy settings that affect our members.

  

Registration for the American Distilling Institute's 2023 International Spirits Competition has recently opened and as part of your Australian Distillers membership we have arranged for members to receive a discount code.

You will save $100 per spirit off the non-member rate. And, any spirit entered by February 3, 2023 will automatically save an extra $50/spirit from their early-bird discount.

American Distilling Institute (ADI) International Spirits Competition Benefits include:

In addition, please note any spirits not yet imported into the US will need to complete the ADI free COLA Waiver application no later than February 3, 2023, and Spirits Registration closes March 3, 2023.

Your can find all the details about the competition at by following the link below.

COMPETITION DETAILS

To access the member discount code please follow the relevant link below. (Please note you will need to be logged into the member portal to access this code). Why not update your details whilst your there!

MEMBER DISCOUNT CODE

Independent Stave Company (ISC) in conjunction with the Australian Distillers are pleased to announce the inaugural Young Distiller Fellowship Award is now open for nominations from distillers under the age of forty years old.

The Award includes the following:

Please send all Award applications and enquiries to Australian Distillers.

Nominations close on Thursday 22nd December 2022, the successful candidate to be announced at the 2023 Australian Distillers conference in Melbourne.

FULL INFORMATION HERE

The Australian Distillers is pleased to release it's annual report with updates from the outgoing President, Stuart Gregor, CEO, Paul McLeay, the updates Committee of Management, Governance update, and both membership and financial reports.

Access to the report for all members is below and will be emailed out.

ANNUAL REPORT 2022

As Stu commented, "We have come a long way. A long way from my first conference in 2014 at Starward’s OG HQ in Essendon Fields when we had 24 attendees and 30-odd members. To the remarkable conference in 2022, a membership of 500-plus, a robust financial position and a new governance structure around the corner. I am thrilled that we were able to receive the full $350,000 excise relief in the 2021 Federal Budget – for me that was a red letter day."

In his closing comments Stu stated "I know the Australian Distillers Association is in good hands with an active and responsible committee of management and competent, hardworking staff who will ensure we can continue to have a focus on safety and develop a focus on training to ensure sustainable growth.  Thank you for the memories and the honour of being your voice for the past eight years. I wish the incoming President all the very best; it is an exciting, rewarding and ultimately humbling role. See you at the Annual Conference next year for a drink at the bar."

Australian Distillers members elected Holly Klintworth of Bass & Flinders Distillery as their first female President at their Annual General Meeting held on Monday.

Holly takes on the role following eight years with Stu Gregor, Four Pillars co-founder and industry stalwart, at the helm. Under Stu’s leadership, membership of the Association grew from 30 to over 400 members, as Australian distilling continues to boom and flourish.

Remarking on her appointment, Ms Klintworth expressed her excitement in accepting the nomination as President and acknowledged Stu’s legacy and tireless advocacy in achieving the increase to the alcohol manufacturer remission scheme from $100,000 to $350,000 at the 2021 Federal Budget.

   
Holly Klintworth                                                        Stuart Gregor

“When anyone thinks of Australian Distillers or Four Pillars, they think of the inimitable Stu Gregor. He encouraged Australian Distillers to be forward-thinking and to adopt a growth mindset. He demonstrated that our industry is capable of so much more.

“Stu was inspired by the generous spirit of Bill Lark and Spike Dessert who believed so passionately in lending a helping hand to the next generation of Australian distillers. Thank you to Stu for maintaining the legacy of the giants whose shoulders you stood on.

“I look forward to continuing your strong, reliable and committed leadership as we embark on the next chapter of our growth and embrace new opportunities to showcase incredible Australian spirits to an ever-growing and passionate Australian and global consumer base.”

Holly is supported on the Australian Distillers Committee of Management by Vice President and Australian Distillers Hall of Fame inductee, Cameron Syme, and Secretary/ Treasurer, Stephen Parry of Pattex Distillery, who continue in their roles.

The Association also welcomes new Committee members Cameron Mackenzie of Four Pillars (VIC), George Georgiadis of Never Never Distilling Co.(SA), Adam Pinkard of Adams Distillery (TAS) and Kate Sinfield of Sin Gin Distillery (WA).

ABAC have now completed a follow up of the issues arising from the recent compliance monitoring project. The ABAC Management Committee is waiting for the JWS Research report which has been delayed as the project leader is currently on extended leave. There are now three useful resources for ensuring responsible placement of alcohol marketing.

The Paid and Placed and Organics Marketing compliance checklists have been approved at the last ABAC Management Committee meeting and they have been placed on the ABAC website. There is now a paper that outlines the age restriction controls and platform policies available for Facebook and Instagram for both brand accounts and influencer posts. The latter document arose from queries raised during the compliance monitoring project.

Members should let your staff know: -

The Technical Standards Project Group hosted the Scotch Whisky Association to discuss Geographical standards and other issues for the preservation of Whisky in a global context. You opened the meeting. The slides and video can be viewed in the Members Portal.

The Safety and Sustainability Project Group hosted hosting a webinar on Sustainability certification on 5 September. It was very well attended with more than 100 registering.

The beginning of November we will be hosting a webinar Inventory Management Systems and craft distillery management software hosted by Five x 5 Solutions.

WESTERN AUSTRALIA

Along with the WADG, we have written to the WA government seeking funding for a project similar to the SA Industry Blueprint. The TWSA is in a similar position. We will do a similar project in the other states.

Thank you to Manildra for sponsoring Adam PINKARD to attend their annual meeting and speak about safety. Those lucky enough to hear his talk on safety at the conference will appreciate the impact. If you missed it, go to the safety and sustainability page to watch the video.

VICTORIA

The working party for the Victorian Distillery door program has yet to receive Government sign off. However, we anticipate it to be approved soon. I have attached an update for the streams and the terms of reference for the group.

In summary,

After 12 months, the RTO will be available to all distillers, Australia wide. A rebate for each course will be paid to the Australian Distillers to enable ongoing funding and development.

QUEENSLAND

QLD tafe have agreed to establish a Certificate III and Cert IV in distilling to be offered to QLD distillers.

Watch this space for more information.

SOUTH AUSTRALIA

Update on the SA Container Deposit Scheme.
In September 2021, a discussion paper was released for public consultation on reviewing South Australia’s container deposit scheme: Improving South Australia’s Recycling Makes Cents.

In response to the discussion paper, the EPA received 250 submissions from the public, Container Deposit Scheme (CDS) stakeholders, environment and community groups, industry and government and a summary of these responses is now available here.

Overall, consultation feedback showed support for modernising CDS operations. This includes new technologies, improved community accessibility and service experience and to introduce a more streamlined and effective CDS governance arrangement with a preference for a centralised scheme coordinator model and an improved fee structure.

The State Government will continue to work directly with key stakeholders to develop draft legislative changes to improve the container deposit scheme for beverage producers, recyclers and the community. The EPA will be consulting on the draft legislation when it is prepared.

The SA State Government proposes the alignment of container scope across all states and territories, establishing a single national approval portal and maintaining deposit amount (and reviewing if it should be increased) and notes it is continuing to be being progressed nationally.

We will be writing to oppose the CDS to full bottled spirits because of the cost impact to small producers and there being little evidence that full spirit bottles are a significant feature of litter in Australia.

NEW SOUTH WALES

Australian Distillers and Archie Rose hosted a unique event last month, a special behind the scenes tour of Archie Rose's new establishment at Banksmeadow. Thanks to Will and Dave for hosting us and sharing their story.

NSW Container Deposit Scheme.
This week, the NSW Government, through the EPA and Minister James Griffin (Environment) announced proposed changes to the NSW Container Deposit Scheme, Return and Earn.The NSW Government is proposing to include all beverage containers (non-alcoholic and alcoholic) between 150ml and 3L, except for plain milk and registered health tonics as part of the scheme.

We will be writing to oppose the changes to full bottled spirits because of the cost impact to small producers and there being little evidence that full spirit bottles are a significant feature of litter in Australia.

With the change in the federal government, we are advised that health bureaucrats are using this as an excuse to re-introduce problematic language to increase the scope of FSANZ beyond its current remit.

Along with our colleagues at Spirits and Cocktails, The Australian Distillers view is that it is a good time to review and update the FSANZ Act to reflect contemporary needs for industry and consumers. There is scope to modernise the Act and improve efficiency in the regulatory system. It is important that FSANZ remain focused on its core business – ensuring consumers have confidence that food is safe through the regulation of additives and contaminants to prevent acute diseases and food handling processes are hygienic

Expanding FSANZ’s remit to include issues like sustainability and packaging will stretch its resources further into areas it does not have expertise. While FSANZ should ensure consumers have transparent information to make informed decisions, to expand its role to intervene in longer term disease from lifestyle and behavioural choices will duplicate its work with health agencies, creating regulatory complexity for industry. Health departments and the national drinking guidelines already have clear recommendations around the consumption of alcohol, and consumer education should be channelled through those agencies.

Progress has been made on socialising the need for a Parliamentary inquiry into the spirits industry. We have recommended for the terms of reference to be:

Further details will be announced in the coming month.