Wine industry expresses concerns with Queensland's expanded CRS

Lee McLean, Australian Grape & Wine CEO, has expressed his concerns about the impact of Queensland’s expanded Container Refund Scheme (CRS) on Australian wine businesses as key questions remain unanswered as the scheme commences.

“The government states that 98% of Queenslanders are in favour of this scheme, but the government has not told Queenslanders that this scheme will result in fewer wine choices, increased prices and, based on other states’ cost-benefit analyses, no significant increase in recycling of wine bottles or meaningful environmental benefits. It just doesn’t add up,” McLean said.

New Queensland legislation now makes it unlawful for wine businesses to sell wine into Queensland unless they have registered with Container Exchange (COEX), executed a Container Recovery Agreement (CRA) and registered each of their bottles.

According to McLean, many wineries were unaware of the change and only about a quarter of them have registered to participate in the scheme, of which only a fraction have transitioned to an agreement to legally sell their wines.

“The Queensland Government still can’t provide confirmation to wineries whether the Wine Equalisation Tax (WET) also applies on top of the schemes 13.9 cent per bottle tax. GST is also added on top of the 13.9 cent charge to wineries, resulting in the Queensland Government putting a tax on a tax on a tax. This is all despite the Palaszczuk government’s commitment to introduce no new taxes at the last election,” McLean said.

The Australian wine industry remains strongly committed to increasing the recovery and recycling of wine packaging and creating a circular economy for wine bottles that is based on a shared responsibility model across the whole production chain, the AGW statement concluded.

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