http://www.thepunch.com.au/author-bios/stephen-strachan/ Since becoming Chief Executive in December 2003, Stephen has been driving a number of critical policy and strategic issues on behalf of Australia’s wineries. Major policy initiatives include:  securing rebates from the Wine Equalisation Tax (WET) for Australia’s regional wineries; driving the industry’s alcohol and health policy; and developing environmental policy and initiatives to safeguard and promote Australian wine’s environmental credentials. On strategic planning, Stephen was instrumental in developing Wine Australia: Directions to 2025, the Australian wine industry’s strategic plan aimed at building widespread sustainable success within the wine sector.  More recently, he has initiated the release of a major industry statement on oversupply as part of the Wine Restructuring Action Agenda. Stephen completed a Bachelor of Economics degree at Flinders University in 1990. en Copyright 2012 The Punch penberthyd@newsltd.com.au penberthyd@newsltd.com.au Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:40 +0000 Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:40 +0000 Politics, opinion, world news, sports news, latest news, views, Barack Obama, Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard, Nathan Rees, Malcolm Turnbull, Peter Garrett, Barnaby Joyce, Australian, federal politics, opinion polls, election, The Punch, thepunch, punch ExpressionEngine 1.6.7 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 15 http://www.thepunch.com.au/images/punch-logo-rss.png http://www.thepunch.com.au/ 144 70 Politics, political opinion, world news, sports news and the latest news and views updated live, daily on The Punch - Australia's best conversation. Search The Punch keywords http://www.thepunch.com.au/search/ http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Anti-booze-narks-are-whining-themselves-to-death/ In one of the songs on his famous Graceland album Paul Simon uses the tongue-in-cheek line “why don’t we get together and call ourselves an institute?”. The anti-alcohol lobby is obviously a big fan because it appears to be using this as the basis for its PR strategy. Any time members get together to peddle their message they call it a summit or a forum or something similar that will offer the media promise of serious discussion and new ideas. There have been three such events quite recently. On September 6 they held a “panel discussion” (comprising a group of people who share their views) to add gravitas to a media conference calling for changes to wine tax. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Stephen Strachan) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Anti-booze-narks-are-whining-themselves-to-death/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Anti-booze-narks-are-whining-themselves-to-death/#item7063 Wed, 02 Nov 2011 19:45:18 +0000 Stephen Strachan | Author bios | The Punch