The AWRI has received queries from a number of potential voters in relation to the AWRI Board election process, some of which relate to the impacts of the recent bushfire events on many producers. For some, this year’s production may have been impacted by these extraordinary events to the extent that they will not be required to pay the Wine Grapes levy for the year ending 30 June 2020.
The AWRI Constitution provides that in order to cast a valid vote in a Board election a levy payer must declare they are a Wine Grapes Levy Payer which has submitted a return to the Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment in the most recent full financial year and the approximate amount of grapes crushed as declared on the levy return.
Given that the deadline for levy returns for 2019-20 is 30 September 2020, for many producers the most recent full financial year for which a levy return has been submitted is that ending 30 June 2019 (where the levy return was required to be submitted by 30 September 2019). This means that any producers who did not crush grapes in 2020 but did pay the levy for 2018-19 are still eligible to vote in this year’s election, citing the tonnage from the 2018-19 return.
Voting is now open and the ballot will close at 5:00 pm CST on Friday, 11 September 2020. Voting instructions and candidate profiles are available on the AWRI website.
For further information regarding the clarification of voting procedures, or any other queries relating to the election, please contact the Returning Officer, Shiralee Dodd at returningofficer@awri.com.au.