News

Yesterday, 20 February 2025, The House Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Resources released its report from their Inquiry into Food and Beverage Manufacturing in Australia, titled Food for Thought: The Opportunities and Challenges for Australia’s Food and Beverage Manufacturing Industry.

The Independent Brewers Association (IBA) participated in the Inquiry and are grateful that the Committee has considered our issues and made recommendations on two common sense issues that we have been advocating for, for many years now:

1. Digitisation and innovation opportunities for labelling – such as the implementation of QR codes; and
2. The Australian Government work with state/territory and local governments and industry to harmonise Australia’s container deposit schemes.

Digitisation for labelling

As far back as 2021 the IBA began advocating for the use of digital linking options such as QR Codes to enable manufacturers to easily communicate information direct to the consumer.  Over the years we have responded to five separate consultations by Australia’s regulator – Food Standards Australia and New Zealand (FSANZ) on new labelling requirements for beer and each time our requests to even consider digital linking have been ignored.

There is a global trend in which consumers want more information from their products and digital linking in all aspects of our daily lives is now common practice.   This approach is common sense, and we look forward to this recommendation being adopted by FSANZ as we continue to work with them.

“This is something we have long advocated for, and it is a win for consumers.  It is also a win for small producers who would be able to move away from cramming more and more mandatory content in tiny font on a label – they would be able to update the information in real time and create a deeper relationship with their customers” says Kylie Lethbridge, CEO of the IBA.

Container Deposit Scheme Harmonisation

Small breweries are significantly impacted by container deposit schemes (CDS) due to the number of unique products that come to market – more than any other beverage sector. The cost of administration and complexity of navigating multiple different systems and schemes is actively hampering the productivity of Australian owned breweries.

The Committee has recommended that the Australian Government work with state/territory and local governments and industry to harmonise Australia’s container deposit schemes.

Ironically, the Head of each State and Territory Environmental Protection Agencies (HEPA) made a commitment in April 2021 to work toward harmonisation.

To date there has been no meaningful outcome of any work to progress towards harmonsiation.  In fact, despite consultants being hired in multiple jurisdictions there has not been a single report shared with the IBA or our members. A month ago, we wrote to all of the parties involved in HEPA to obtain copies of any reports and request a clear timeline for next steps.  To date we have received two responses.

We are hopeful that this recommendation results in a concerted leadership by the Federal Government to make meaningful progress in the harmonisation of State and Territory CDS schemes.