The Australian Taxation Office has announced that customs warehouse licence fees will increase in 2016. From 1 January, a new, non-refundable fee of $3,000 will be payable when applying for a warehouse licence. The increased fee comes as a result of a comprehensive review of licensing costs that was undertaken by the Department of Immigration and Border Protection (DIBP) in August and September. In addition to the $3,000 application fee, licencees will ...

Treasury Wine Estates (TWE) has agreed to include calorie content in the labelling of its wines. While a number of beer companies, such as Lion, have similarly committed in recent months to being more transparent in the labelling of their products, TWE will be the first wine company to follow the trend. The company says it hopes the inclusion, which will feature across its entire portfolio of bottled wine, will help consumers to make ...

The Office of Liquor, Gaming and Racing has launched a new online contact details form, which will allow liquor licence holders to update their contact details via OLGR’s website. From next year, OLGR will also begin sending liquor licence fee notices by mail, email and SMS, meaning that holders need to ensure their details are up to date - a requirement under the Liquor Act 2007. OLGR says the form will make it ...

Consumers have named First Choice Liquor - Liquor Store of the Month in Roy Morgan’s latest Customer Satisfaction Awards. The Coles owned banner placed higher than Dan Murphy’s, The Bottle-O, IGA Liquor and BWS in terms of customer satisfaction, receiving an overall 92 per cent score - up from 88 per cent in January. According to the global market research company, consumers were most satisfied with 1st Choice stores based in ...

It is now almost two years on since the introduction of lockout laws in Sydney and statistics show that alcohol-fuelled violence has lowered in zones where the legislation is effective, but surged in neighbouring suburbs. The legislation has also resulted in the closure of a number of iconic Sydney venues and a drop in the number of hospitality jobs and club music royalties. Over in other states, licensees are worried about the possible introduction of ...

Supply chain and barcode solution, GS1 Australia has successfully migrated existing GS1net user organisations and product catalogues into a new GS1 Australia National Product Catalogue platform. The new platform will provide existing users from multiple sectors, including grocery and liquor, with a ‘next generation’ data synchronisation solution, comprising 36,700 trading partners and 28.6 million registered items. The National Product Catalogue (formerly GS1net) now stands as one of the worlds’ largest Global Data ...

A Lidcombe restaurant has had its liquor licence suspended for serving alcohol to minors. Palbok BBQ Pty Ltd, trading as Palbok House, is now the fourth venue in NSW to have had its licence suspended this year. According to the Office of Liquor, Gaming and Racing (OLGR), police had observed a group of teenagers in Palbok House’s outdoor dining area consuming soju, a Korean spirit. When the group was asked to provide ID ...

UK wine writer for The Sunday Express and publisher of leading wine website WineAnorak.com, Jamie Goode, landed in Australia this week to embark on a tour of Australia’s wine industry. During his ten day stay, which began on Thursday (26 November), Goode will visit Sydney’s Rootstock festival as well as producers in the south of Australia. Goode’s trip is being sponsored by Wine Australia, who is hoping that the first-hand tour will ...

Forecasts released by the Retail Council Christmas Spending Index predict consumers will spend $35 billion in the lead up to this Christmas. “This year’s forecasts indicate retail is in a slightly stronger position to build on last year’s performance and is on target to contribute more than 4.5 per cent to Australia’s GDP”, said Retail Council CEO Anna McPhee. According to the forecasts, online purchases will play an important part in the retail ...

De Bortoli Wines has purchased the Lutasatia Park Vineyard at Woori Yallock in the Yarra Valley from the Shelmerdine family. The 18 hectare premium, mature vineyard will be handed over to De Bortoli after the 2016 harvest. Lusatia Park is one of the most well known independent single vineyards in the Yarra Valley. The majority of the vineyard was planted in 1985 and currently sells fruit to a number of premium ...