Category Archives: Woolworths

Labor promises price gouging crack down on supermarkets

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Anthony Albanese says his government, if re-elected, will establish taskforce to investigate ‘excessive’ pricing regimes, and it will be enforced by ACCC

Anthony Albanese has promised that a re-elected Labor government will outlaw price gouging by supermarkets, marking the first big policy announcement of the campaign.

The prime minister on Sunday will announce Labor will act on recommendations made by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) to improve transparency about supermarket prices, promotions and loyalty programs.

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Groceries are getting more expensive at Woolworths but cheaper at Coles, report finds

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Choice price tracker finds cost of shopping at Aldi barely changed between March and December 2024 in quarterly assessment of 14 common items

The cost of groceries at Woolworths has gone up even when factoring in specials, while prices at Coles decreased and Aldi’s remained relatively stable, according to Choice’s latest supermarket price tracker.

The consumer advocacy group has released its fourth quarterly report, funded by the federal government, into supermarket prices, which it assesses by purchasing a basket of 14 common grocery items from different stores.

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Woolworths selling downsized’ Brut deodorant for more than double unit cost of old product

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Consumer advocates call for more transparency around ‘shrinkflation’ as supermarkets continue to defend against price-gouging allegations

Australia’s biggest supermarket chain, Woolworths, is selling a significantly smaller stick of Brut deodorant for more than double the unit price of the old product, in an extreme example of “shrinkflation” that leaves shoppers paying more for common household products.

While not unlawful, the pricing decision rubs against heightened public criticism of strategies employed by supermarkets, which have consistently defended themselves against price gouging allegations during a cost-of-living crisis.

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Woolworths sacks two workers and investigates dozens over alleged conduct during 17-day strike

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Letters seen by Guardian Australia focus on alleged pickets on 26 November outside warehouses that were not then on strike

Two workers have been dismissed and Woolworths has told dozens of warehouse employees it is investigating their alleged conduct during a recent 17-day strike that cost it more than $100m in sales.

In November 2024, about 1,500 warehouse staff across four of the company’s distribution centres in New South Wales and Victoria took industrial action over pay and workplace conditions.

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Australia news live: Allan defends Victoria after it’s named worst state for business; Burke to meet Indonesian minister over Bali Nine

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The Victorian premier has defended the state’s business credentials saying there’s key data missing from the Business Council of Australia’s report. Follow today’s news headlines live

Weather check shows mixed conditions forecast across Australian cities

It’s a mixed, if warm, bag in capital cities today, with the Bureau of Meteorology forecasting storms in Melbourne, sunny skies in Brisbane and Adelaide and showers across all other major cities.

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Woolworths takes $50m hit as strike leads to empty shelves

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The supermarket giant filed an urgent application with the Fair Work Commission to end industrial action blocking distribution centres

Australia’s biggest supermarket chain, Woolworths, says it has lost $50m in grocery sales since the start of industrial action that has disrupted the flow of goods into some of its stores.

More than 1,500 Woolworths warehouse workers have been on strike since 21 November, seeking better pay and safety on the job. Industrial action has affected up to five distribution centres, impacting supplies in some stores in Victoria, New South Wales and the ACT.

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‘Treating workers like robots’: Woolworths blamed for empty supermarket shelves as warehouse strikes continue

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Stores in New South Wales, Victoria and the ACT affected as industrial action by up to 1,500 employees stretches into second week

Woolworths bears responsibility for the empty shelves seen in supermarkets across parts of Australia by attempting to treat workers like “robots”, the head of the Australian Council of Trade Unions has said, as a strike of warehouse workers extends into a second week.

Up to 1,500 employees began rolling 24-hour strikes on 21 November in warehouses in New South Wales and Victoria, seeking improved wages and safety. One of the major issues is a new framework system employed at the warehouse that tracks workers down to the minute, and logs performance each shift using an algorithm.

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Assange says he is free because he ‘pled guilty to journalism’ – as it happened

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National weather forecasts

Sticking with the weather, here’s a look at the forecasts across Australia’s capital cities today:

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Mirror-like offering by supermarket giants may be stifling vigorous competition, ACCC report says

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Australian Competition and Consumer Commission uses special information gathering powers to examine ‘concerning’ reports from grocery suppliers

Australia’s major supermarkets provide broadly similar products, prices and loyalty programs in an oligopolistic market that may limit incentives to compete vigorously, the competition regulator has found in its interim report on the sector.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission also said grocery suppliers had raised “concerning” issues – such as being required to pay rebates for promotions to supermarkets – prompting the regulator to use its compulsory information gathering powers to examine the reported behaviour.

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ACCC sues Coles and Woolworths over allegations of ‘illusory’ discounts on common products

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Competition watchdog alleges supermarkets briefly increased prices on hundreds of products before placing them in discount promotions

The competition regulator is suing Coles and Woolworths over allegations they misled shoppers by engaging in “illusory” discounts on hundreds of common supermarket products.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) claimed on Monday that the major chains derived significant revenue from the sale of tens of millions of products sold through promotions that the regulator says breached consumer law.

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Microsoft IT outage: Australian airlines, banks and supermarkets begin return to normal operations

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IT support staff need to implement the fix in person, one computer at a time, experts have said

Supermarkets, banks, airlines and industries across Australia are slowly recovering on Saturday morning from the massive global Windows outage caused by a CrowdStrike software update gone wrong, with experts warning it could take weeks to resolve.

On Friday morning, the CEO of the Texas-based cybersecurity company, George Kurtz, apologised for the outage, and said it was not a cyber-attack, but a software update issue on its cloud-based cybersecurity platform Falcon for Microsoft Windows. It had since been fixed.

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Supermarkets could face billions in fines for grocery code breaches as Labor commits to reforms

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Government to adopt recommendations of conduct review in full amid consumer and supplier complaints about soaring profits

Labor has promised to legislate massive new fines for breaches of the grocery code of conduct, which would be made mandatory under changes proposed by Craig Emerson’s independent review.

On Monday the Albanese government will announce it is adopting in full the recommendations of Emerson’s report on the code, an interim version of which was released in April amid consumer and supplier complaints about soaring supermarket profits.

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Typical Aldi grocery bill 25% cheaper than at major supermarkets, Choice research finds

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Undercover shopping study on 14 common items part of move to provide transparency after Coles and Woolworths accused of price gouging

A basket of Aldi groceries is typically 25% cheaper than an equivalent purchase at major chains Coles and Woolworths, according to government-funded research conducted by consumer group Choice.

The price comparison of 14 common grocery items is part of an initiative to provide better transparency of the supermarket sector, which has faced allegations of anti-competitive price gouging during a cost-of-living crisis.

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Woolworths shelves left bare across parts of Queensland after ‘terrible IT problem’

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Customers take to social media to complain after stores in Brisbane and state’s south-east left without fresh produce

A “terrible IT problem” is behind empty shelves at some Woolworths stores in Queensland.

In scenes reminiscent of the panic buying of the early Covid pandemic, some Woolworths chains have been stripped of fruit and vegetables.

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Supermarkets inquiry: forcibly break up major retailers for anti-competitive behaviour, report says

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Senate committee examined how major chains including Coles and Woolworths have set prices during Australia’s cost of living crisis

Major supermarkets should be forcibly broken up if they engage in anti-competitive behaviour, a Senate inquiry has recommended, in a move designed to empower shoppers and suppliers against Australia’s dominant food retailers.

The findings pit the Greens-chaired Senate committee against the Labor government, which opposes legislative changes that would allow the court-enforced divestiture of assets. Supporters say the move would act as an incentive for supermarkets to not misuse market power.

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Meta and X ordered to remove church stabbing content – as it happened

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The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, says he has been briefed by the Australian federal police following an alleged stabbing at a Wakeley church overnight.

Albanese wrote on X:

I have been briefed by the AFP and our security agencies regarding the shocking incident at Wakeley’s Christ the Good Shepherd Church.

As police continue their investigations, Australians are thinking of those who have been injured, the first responders who rushed to help and the police who worked to restore order.

They are coming out on a united front irrespective of religion, political [or] ideological views, and I think that is really important to send a message [that] we are collectively one community …

We are a fairly big mixed community now in NSW but it doesn’t mean we can’t live side by side.

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Australians dropping fruit and vegetables from diet amid cost-of-living crisis

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ABS data shows changes in grocery consumption, prompting concerns over eating habits and the nation’s health

Australians are buying less fruit and vegetables and consuming less milk, as relentless increases in grocery prices upend eating habits, raising concerns over the nation’s health.

Overall, shoppers are buying less of just about everything, with consumption falling from 15.1m tonnes to 14.8m tonnes in 2022-23, according to Australian Bureau of Statistics data released on Friday.

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Australia’s major supermarkets accused of purchasing properties to ‘turf out’ independent stores

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Metcash, the owner of IGA and Foodland brands, tells Senate inquiry that ‘if they can’t buy the store, they try and buy the property’

The head of the food division at Metcash, which owns the IGA and Foodland brands, has accused major supermarkets of paying inflated prices to buy out competitors, and purchasing properties to “turf out” independently owned stores at the end of their leases.

Grant Ramage, the chief executive of Metcash Food, told a Senate inquiry on Thursday that the practices diminished the network of independent stores by removing successful businesses.

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PM says transparency around aid worker’s death ‘in Israel’s interest’ – as it happened

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PM ‘absolutely’ confident supermarket review will reduce prices for consumers

The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, is speaking to ABC News Radio, also weighing in on Craig Emerson’s supermarket review.

Including the Senate review … we’ve already announced our funding of Choice, the consumer organisation, to do quarterly price monitoring, ensuring that consumers know where the best deal is available and using that use of information to drive that competition through the system.

We’ve only got a few supermarkets in Australia and it does concentrate a lot of market power in the hands of the retailers, [so] heavy fines might be the way to go. I certainly wouldn’t stand in the way of that.

And I know many people, particularly in one of the richest cities in the world in Sydney, are doing it incredibly tough when you’ve got the dual hits of both interest rate rises and high inflation.

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Australia news live: heavy rain and strong winds to hit Victoria; Easter campers rescued from Queensland flood waters

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Five people rescued while dozens remained stranded at campsite in northern Queensland. Follow the day’s news live

Support for Labor drops in WA as Coalition gains ground among the young

Voters in Western Australia are shifting away from Labor towards the Coalition, as the opposition gains ground among young people.

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