In March, Managing Director of Lion, James Brindley, mentioned the idea of a ‘pan industry’ body that would represent brewers, distillers, winemakers, retailers, and even hoteliers. Former NSW Political Adviser and Communications Consultant, Fergus Taylor, was then appointed as Executive Director of ABA in April.
ABA is an industry generated representative body, which will be governed by a Member Council and assisted by a Working Group. The Council is made up of nominated senior representatives from each member company and is informed by the Working Group - drawn from the corporate affairs staff of member organisations.
The Council will determine ABA’s strategy and then the Working Group members will work closely with ABA to engineer the policy positions, submissions and media content necessary to represent the industry to media and governments across Australia. This allows for a continuous refresh of policy and collaborative approach towards achieving a united voice.
The goal is to be able to provide a single, unified voice for the industry and communicate its standpoint on topics such as health, violence and underage drinking to consumers, to media and to Government.
“At the top of the agenda for ABA is addressing negative perceptions of the industry, and some of the misconceptions that are portrayed and currently going unanswered in the media and public debate,” Fergus explained.
“The public needs to know that Australia’s alcohol consumption is on the right track; underage drinking is continuing to fall; binge drinking is falling, and yet responsible drinkers are still able to enjoy themselves.”
"Calls to limit alcohol advertising are about demonising alcohol and making responsible drinkers feel ashamed, and the industry has a right to defend itself against these misleading attacks.”
The second will be about providing a perspective around longer-term health issues, so that people understand that moderate drinking can be an enjoyable part of a healthy lifestyle - and the industry’s positive contribution to enriching our lives is acknowledged alongside its determination to help tackling the problems of alcohol misuse.
“Red tape and restrictions are increasing across our industry, so it is important that we work closely with governments to reduce regulation where it is not needed and help make sure legislators understand the importance of targeted solutions as opposed to blunt population-wide policies that punish everyone to solve problems that are caused by the few,” Fergus said. “It is also important that ABA contributes to an informed debate.”
“There are also issues that we won’t deal with, such as tax for example. There are so many different taxes and conflicting positions on tax that it’s impossible to provide a single industry perspective.”
“The aim is to be representative of the entire industry,” Fergus added.“And I have been encouraged as I met with my members by the enthusiasm they share to see this organisation succeed.”
More details about ABA will be released as it launches publicly across Australia in the second half of 2016.
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