RESTRUCTURING the Australian Wine and Brandy Corporation has begun, with staff cuts and a plan to combine the administration of the wine industry's four major national bodies under one roof.
AWBC chief executive Andrew Cheesman, a former accountant who took over the role last June, said seven of the 45 employees - most working in information services - had been made redundant.
He said streamlining the organisation would allow a greater proportion of industry levies to be directed towards increasing demand for Australian wine "and improving our image in both domestic and international markets".
"The focus will be an all-out promotion of our fine wine community and credentials," he said.
Part of the plan involves the AWBC, Grape and Wine Research and Development Corporation, Winemakers Federation of Australia and Wine Grape Growers Australia pooling their administrative sections and operating from a single site, most likely the National Wine Centre.
WGGA executive director Mark McKenzie, who is on an AWBC advisory committee, said the issue of what information was used by the industry - and in what form - had been under review for more than a year.
"(Most) people are probably looking for bite-sized information packages on the implications of information rather than necessarily a lot of analysis of in-depth data," he said.
Murray Valley Winegrowers chief executive officer, Mike Stone, expressed concern that the industry would find it more difficult to address the crippling oversupply of wine without the same level of analysis the AWBC had provided in the past.
"We need more information, not less," he said.
