Category Archives: Coles

Cockatoo rescued after ‘living on brioche’ for four weeks inside Sydney supermarket

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NSW environment minister hopes ‘Mickey will be flying free by tomorrow’ after successful capture by wildlife services

A sulphur-crested cockatoo called Mickey that had been “living on brioche” inside a Sydney supermarket for four weeks has been captured by wildlife services and is expected to be set free soon.

The New South Wales environment minister, Penny Sharpe, announced on Tuesday evening that the bird had “been safely captured by wildlife rescuers after spending way too long in Macarthur Square”.

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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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Coles profit surges to $1.1bn as shoppers grapple with cost-of-living crisis

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Greens accuse company of price-gouging, as supermarket attributes sales boost to seasonal campaigns and rising digital revenue

Coles has posted a surge in revenue from its groceries business and expanded supermarket profit margins to the highest level recorded in the pandemic era, even as shoppers grapple with fast-rising household costs.

The revenue bump underpinned a robust rise in annual profit to $1.1bn. It threatens to draw Australia’s second largest chain back into the public limelight as cost-of-living pressures become a central political issue for the next federal election.

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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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Egg farmers say supply not at risk from bird flu after Coles imposes two-carton limit on shoppers

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Supermarket’s restriction applies everywhere except WA as more than 500,000 chickens euthanised due to avian influenza

Egg farmers have rushed to reassure consumers that there is no shortage of eggs after the supermarket chain Coles announced a two-carton limit in response to the avian influenza outbreak in Victoria.

The highly pathogenic H7N3 strain of bird flu has been detected on four farms in western Victoria, and another highly pathogenic strain, H7N9, has been detected at a fifth farm. More than half a million chickens have been euthanised in an effort to stop the spread of the disease.

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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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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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Farmers paid too little, shoppers charged too much – it’s a win-win for Australia’s supermarkets

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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.

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Coles pay offer labelled ‘insulting’ as staff say they can’t afford to shop at own workplace

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One worker says she feels ‘disrespected’ by proposed agreement, which includes in-store gift cards if staff vote to accept

Some Coles workers say an offer from the supermarket giant of in-store gift cards if they vote to accept a new enterprise agreement is “insulting”, and the agreement doesn’t give them a meaningful pay rise despite the company’s increased profits.

One employee said she felt “disrespected” by the offer, which comes at a time when some staff say they are skipping meals and shopping at other supermarkets because they can’t afford food from their own workplace.

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Fixing Australia’s supermarkets: how to drive competition without wielding a hammer

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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.

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Shoppers sceptical of whether Coles or Woolworths specials offer actual savings, Choice survey shows

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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.

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Woolworths, Coles and Aldi to roll out soft plastics collection bins in 12 Melbourne stores

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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.

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Groceries on special fly off Australian supermarket shelves at 70 times normal rate

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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.

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