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Funding for small and medium alcoholic beverage manufacturing enterprises to improve energy efficiency

This grant opens in less than two weeks.

The grant is targeted at small and medium food and beverage manufacturing businesses (that employ less than 199 employees) and can provide $10,000 to $25,000 of funding to improve energy efficiency practices and technologies to better manage energy consumption and reduce power bills. The guidelines specifically reference the spirits industry as an eligible food and beverage manufacturing businesses. Applications will open on 12 January 2022 and close on 18 February 2022 – additional details can be found here.

The grant body will host an information session for this program via Webex on Monday 10 January 2022 at 10:30 AM to 11:30 AM AEDT. The session will include:
an overview of the program

key dates
organisation and project eligibility requirements
application process
questions and answers.

ATO system unavailability during annual close down period

Since ATO closed on December 24, their systems have been progressively becoming unavailable as they prepare for major systems upgrades over the Christmas and New Year break. The ATO systems will return at 8.00am AEDT on Tuesday 4 January 2022. During this time, a number of ATO online services will be unavailable.

You still need to make payments due in this period. Payments made will be progressively displayed on their systems from 4 January 2022. However, you will not be able to lodge excise returns or amendments. Any lodgements due must be lodged on 4 January 2022.

If you require urgent assistance in relation to an excise matter during the closure period, contact: Caraline Hill – 0439 406 570

Social Media – Age Restrictions

As Members know, the Australian Distillers Association are direct signatories of the ABAC. This means that all Full Members are required to pre-vet all of your television, cinema, radio and outdoor advertising. Full Members names have been provided to the ABAC. However, for the first time you seek a pre-vetting, please contact Marilyn Hansford at accounts@abac.org.au before lodging a new pre-vetting request so that she can set you up in the new database as a signatory so you receive the reduced rate and 30 day terms (non-signatories pay upfront).

Please ensure that all your brand social media accounts, in particular on Facebook, Instagram, Youtube and Twitter have applied age restriction settings so the accounts are not visible to minors AND that influencers that you have engaged with (even via delivery of product) have age restricted individual posts that promote their product. Short videos and help notes that explain how to activate available age restriction controls are available at http://www.abac.org.au/about/guidance/.

It is very important that these age restrictions are all in place for all brands as ABAC has commissioned a research company to randomly select signatory brands to monitor compliance in this area. That project will kick off soon and is in response to Government and public health concern about minors accessing alcohol brand social media accounts.
ABAC Code Placement Rule 2 provides that an alcohol marketer must utilise available age restriction controls to exclude minors from viewing its marketing communications.
JWS Research will randomly select 300 ABAC signatory alcohol producer, distributor, or retailer brands and for each of the selected brands will audit:

whether available age restriction controls have been applied to the brand's accounts on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube; and
up to two apparent social media influencer posts promoting the selected brands posted to Facebook or Instagram on or after 1 August 2021, to test whether the individual posts have been age restricted by the influencer.

If a brand account or apparent social media influencer post is identified as not having in place available age restriction controls, JWS Research will contact the brand owner to identify whether the brand account or social media influencer post is generated by or within the reasonable control of an Australian alcohol marketer in relation to a product sold in Australia.

In relation to influencer posts the media influencer post includes any engagement with the influencer i.e., formal arrangements through to gifting product or other reward. If an influencer post is not age restricted the researchers will seek to identify whether the brand instructed the influencer to age restrict posts to Facebook/Instagram about that brand so they can identify at which point the breakdown occurred (important to keep a record of terms of engagement/instructions given).

If an audit of your social media assets has not yet taken place please do so now.

Thank you for a wonderful 2021

As the year comes to a close, I want to thank all of the members who have been supportive, encouraging, challenging and inspiring. I have absolutely enjoyed the challenges and opportunities of 2021. The game changing May Budget gives the Australian Craft Distilling Industry the relief and opportunity we demand as we develop and grow.

Special thanks to the amazing, patient and wonderful Mimma. She has held the Australian Distillers together for many years and continues to be the glue that keeps us all bound, the bills paid, the membership renewals dispatched and the organisation together.

All members can be confident the Committee of management, under the leadership of the inspiring President, Stu Gregor, is highly engaged, motivated and holds the interests of the members at the core of everything they do.

Associate Members and partners have lifted us up this year. The work we do with our associated organisations including Alcohol Beverages Australia and the ABAC mean we are able to keep across and in front of the key issues affecting the alcohol industry. Particular acknowledgement goes to Spirits and Cocktails Australia, under the leadership of Angus McPherson and Greg Holland, we could not have achieved much without their partnership.

There are two things I am looking forward to in January 2022.

Ticket sales for the Australian Distillers Annual Conference will go on sale. Hold the date: 3-5 April 2022 in Melbourne.
The new Australian Distillers Association website will be live. The new site will include a knowledge bank, member resources, and a searchable database for all Members. If you are an Associate Member that is now in production, you may want to upgrade your membership to FULL Members status before the site goes live. That is, if you are producing any product, you must be a FULL Member. Membership forms are here.

If you do have some time off over the summer, my strongest recommendation is to grab yourself a copy of Marcel Thompson’s new book, Gin Ventures. It is hot off the press and a great follow up to Still Magic. Ideal for the person thinking about starting a business and great if you are well in to your journey to check if there are ways to improve.

Once again, Happy New Year to all Members, your family and your staff.

Paul