A prominent Adelaide Hills winemaker has written to Federal Agriculture Minister Julie Collins requesting a timeline for the appointment of a permanent chair of Wine Australia.
Two new directors were added to the board of Wine Australia three weeks ago, but the chair, Michele Allan AO, has stayed on pending the recruitment of her replacement. She has been in the chair six years.
Brendan Carter is co-founder and director of Ochre Nation Pty Ltd, a South Australian drinks group comprising Unico Zelo, Applewood Distillery, Økar and Bottle Shock.
“We are based in the Adelaide Hills, we export to more than 27 markets, and we hold B Corp certification for both our winery and our distillery – the first in Australia in each category,” he says in the letter.
“We pay the wine grapes levy and the wine export charge that fund Wine Australia.
“I am not writing to ask for funding. I am not asking for financial assistance, a support package, or relief of any kind.
“I am asking for leadership – specifically, for the formal appointment of the person who will set the strategic objectives of our statutory authority for the coming term. That appointment is the thing we need, and we need it as a matter of priority.”
Dr Michele Allan AO’s term as chair expired on 3 July 2026.
“Your announcement of 27 July confirmed she continues in an acting capacity while recruitment is finalised, and in the same announcement expanded the board from five directors to seven,” Brendan writes.
“The result is that the authority responsible for setting the strategic direction of Australian wine is being led by a chair whose own tenure has no fixed end date, alongside a board that has just been substantially reconstituted.
“Setting strategic objectives is not the production of a document. It is a process – workshopping priorities with industry, sequencing research and development investment, deciding where market development effort goes and where it does not, and taking positions that will be unpopular with some part of the sector.
“It requires a chair with the standing to convene that process and the mandate to be held to its outcomes.
“An acting chair, however capable, cannot credibly commit an organisation to objectives that outlast her own appointment. So the process does not begin. The sector waits.”
Brendan says in the letter to Minister Collins that he recognises the Strategic Plan 2025-30 is in place.
“But it was framed before the full depth of this contraction was visible,” he writes.
“The 2026 vintage produced the smallest crush since 2000. Fruit is being left unpicked, contracts cancelled, vineyards removed. Re-basing the sector’s strategic objectives against those conditions is precisely the work a permanent chair exists to lead, and it is not work that can responsibly be led by someone serving at the Minister’s convenience without a term.
“Meanwhile, producers are making irreversible decisions – whether to replant, whether to renew contracts, whether to continue – without any current strategic signal from the authority we fund and which exists to provide it.
“That is the cost of the delay, and it is being borne entirely by growers and producers.
“I would be grateful if you could advise the date by which you expect to announce the permanent chair. If that date cannot yet be given, I would ask that you set one.
“I would welcome the opportunity to discuss the sector’s position with you or your office, and would be glad to host you in the Adelaide Hills at any time.”
WBM – Australia’s Wine Business Magazine is seeking comment from Federal Agriculture Minister Julie Collins.
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