Australian wine industry bodies are to call on the federal government for funding to help people leave the industry.

Wine Australia and other national associations, including the Winemakers’ Federation of Australia, plan to make a joint appeal to the government as early as July or August, asking for financial support to assist in reducing the size of the Australian wine trade.

Paul Henry, market development manager for Wine Australia, told decanter.com, ‘The winemaking bodies are making a reform agenda that we will present to the federal government. We believe the industry needs to be a different size and shape if it is to move forward. But we need to downsize responsibly’.

The Australian wine industry does not receive funding from the government currently but with problems of oversupply and continued drought in inland areas, Henry believes it is now time for the government to intervene.

‘Because we have been so successful as an industry, the government holds us up as a benchmark but we are in a situation where we need help.

‘Ultimately we want greater investment from the government, as there is an investment requirement needed that can’t be solely provided by the industry,’ he said.

‘We must point out the social, economic and environmental consequences of not appropriately resourcing an industry that has served brand Australia for so long,’ he added.

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Written by Rebecca Gibb

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Rebecca Gibb MW
Rebecca Gibb MW
Decanter Magazine & DWWA Judge

Rebecca Gibb MW is a wine journalist and editor who has also founded Bamboozled games, ‘the world’s first wine and spirit puzzle makers’. Having spent six years living in New Zealand, she has recently returned to her native north-east England. While in New Zealand, she became a Master of Wine, graduating top of her class and winning the Madame Bollinger medal for excellence in tasting. A former winner of both the UK’s young wine writer of the year and the Louis Roederer Emerging Wine Writer, her first book The Wines of New Zealand was published in 2018. She also runs wine events and has her own consultancy business The Drinks Project. She was a judge at the 2019 Decanter World Wine Awards (DWWA).