This blog is now closed
National weather forecasts
Sticking with the weather, here’s a look at the forecasts across Australia’s capital cities today:
Continue reading...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.
Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...This blog is now closed
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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...This blog is now closed
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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...Coles and Woolworths leverage their dominant position over smaller suppliers and consumers alike – and both groups are getting angry
Farmers are pressuring supermarkets to raise produce prices, and shoppers want shelf prices lowered. Can both win?
As inflation eases, supermarkets would typically lean on suppliers to cut prices, with some of those savings passed on to frustrated shoppers to dissuade them from buying less or switching grocery stores in search of a better deal.
Continue reading...Short of breaking up Coles and Woolworths, retail experts call for regulation of wholesale supply deals and help for new entrants to access sites
The Albanese government has ruled out breaking up Australia’s dominant supermarkets after likening such a measure to the old Soviet Union’s command and control economy.
While the government’s position will disappoint some of Coles and Woolworths’ fiercer critics, meaningful reform doesn’t necessarily require a hammer, according to industry and supply chain experts.
Continue reading...Brad Banducci will face a Greens-led Senate inquiry, but it is Amanda Bardwell who will have to rebuild the supermarket giant’s reputation
Woolworths chief executive Brad Banducci is stepping down from Australia’s biggest supermarket chain – but he’s going down swinging.
Against a backdrop of multiple parliamentary inquiries and a year-long pricing investigation, Banducci maintains that the grocery sector is “unbelievably competitive”.
Continue reading...New data from consumer group reveals four in five shoppers say it is hard to know whether markdowns represent value for money
Most shoppers don’t believe Coles or Woolworths specials or sales promotions make it clear they offer actual savings, new data from consumer group Choice shows, with four in five consumers finding it difficult to discern real discounts.
Of almost 11,000 people surveyed, 88% of respondents said they were worried about the rising costs of groceries, while 83% of respondents said they thought some of the supermarkets’ marked down items made it hard to know if they were value for money.
Continue reading...Supermarkets will ask customers to recycle scrunchable plastic food packaging for first time since REDcycle ended
Woolworths, Coles and Aldi will roll out soft plastics collection bins in 12 Melbourne stores, giving customers a place to recycle their scrunchable food packaging for the first time since the demise of REDcycle.
A spokesperson for the Soft Plastics Taskforce – made up of the three supermarkets and chaired by the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water – said the trial, which begins this week, is possible because of new soft plastic recycling facilities that began operating last week.
Continue reading...ABS data highlights shoppers’ attraction to promotions, as supermarkets giants discount unhealthy food twice as often as healthier items
Supermarket promotional items can sell at up to 70 times their normal rate, analysis shows, in a sign of the market power the grocery giants exert over Australian households that includes a preference to discount junk food.
An upcoming parliamentary inquiry designed to investigate claims of profiteering is expected to place significant focus on grocery specials, while the competition regulator has also suggested it could sue major supermarkets for deceptive promotions. The chains have defended their pricing practices.
Continue reading...Claim comes amid state and federal inquiries into Australian grocery sector and what producers say is a widening gap between wholesale and shelf prices
Farming groups have accused the major supermarkets of using their power to distort the market, leading to elevated prices for shoppers and low prices for producers.
The claim comes amid falling global prices for agricultural goods that have failed to dent grocery bills, and growing scrutiny of supermarket pricing practices through newly announced federal and state parliamentary inquiries.
Continue reading...