Issue
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DECEMBER 2020
ACES: Embracing the Circular Economy page 24 A NEW POSITIVE CHANGE HAS ARRIVED | BE PART OF SOMETHING SPECIAL
YOUR INDUSTRY NEWS PROVIDED BY MGA INDEPENDENT RETAILERS
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Contents OUR MISSION The mission of MGA Independent Retailers is to deliver the best possible industry specific business support services to independent grocery, liquor, hardware and associate store members.
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CEO welcome
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COVID-19 Business Recovery Groups
8 Enjoying the Staff Christmas Celebrations 9
The Annual Wage Review 2020and 2021
10 MGATMA Legal and IR Team announcements 11 Christmas Eve Trading Hours in Queensland, Northern Territory and
MGA NATIONAL SUPPORT OFFICE Suite 5, 1 Milton Parade, Malvern, Victoria, 3144 P: 03 9824 4111 • F: 03 9824 4022 admin@mga.asn.au • www.mga.asn.au Freecall: 1800 888 479
South Australia. 12 Federal Department of Home Affairs – Natural Disaster
Preparation Forum
14 Federal Budget 2021 very supportive of small businesses 16 MGA Board of Directors Nominations 17 Farewell Mick Daly 17 Welcome new Board Member -Ripple Parekh 20 Industry Reflections -MGA President Debbie Smith
RETAILER DIRECTORS Debbie Smith (President): Queensland Grant Hinchcliffe (Vice President): Tasmania Graeme Gough: New South Wales Ripple Parekh: Victoria Ross Anile: Western Australia Carmel Goldsmith: New South Wales Chris dos Santos: South Australia Lincoln Wymer: Victoria Jeff Harper: Victoria
MGA CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER Jos de Bruin 03 9824 4111 E: jos.debruin@mga.asn.au
CORPORATE PARTNERSHIP & MEDIA SALES Mark Paladino 0417 264 331 E: mark.paladino@mga.asn.au
DESIGN & PRODUCTION Cindi Damian E: cindi@mga.asn.au
FOLLOW US ONLINE www.facebook.com/ MGAIndependentRetailers www.linkedin.com/company/ mga-independent-retailers www.twitter.com/ MasterGrocers
22 Attorney General and Industrial Relations Minister, Christian Porter - Industrial Relations Reform Groups 23 Find your better business self with NAB Business Fit 24 Introducing: Australian Circluar Economy Solutions - ACES 26 The future of traditional Retail and “Online” in a COVID Normal environment 27 MGA Opposes Woolworths proposed 65% acquisition of PFD Food Service 28 Fair Competition for all in the time of COVID-19 30 Qld Retailers meet with IR Minister Grace Grace – Trading Hours 30 2020 Queensland state election 30 Waste Management Solution Trails 31 Heineken® 0.0 launches Cans 31 Smash and Grabs – Tobacco theft 32 Everything old is new again 34 First Supermarket in Australia to trial trolley sanitising system Sanitizit 35 Foodland expands across South Australia 36 Christmas, COVID-19, and the Summer Season 38 New series celebrating local family-run businesses 39 Timber products can be used in bushfire-prone areas 40 Timber Framing – renewing our future 41 Senate Select Committee Inquiry on Tobacco Harm Reduction 42 T21 Legislation still on Tasmanian Governments Radar 42 Overseas licences now accepted as evidence of age 43 Introduction of Victorian Container Deposit Scheme 43 Vale Dean White 44 Old No15 Bourbon and Cola supporting the Independent Liquor Retailer first 46 Coca-Cola Europe looking to acquire Coca-Cola Amatil
MGA Corporate Partners DIAMOND
PLATINUM
GOLD
SILVER
BRONZE
ASSOCIATE
WAREHOUSE AND BRAND PARTNERS
tasmanian independent retailers
CEO REPORT
CEO Welcome Welcome to the final IR magazine edition for this calendar year 2020. What a year it has been too! Drought, bushfires, floods and then the COVID-19 Pandemic. Who would have thought we would have state and territory driven community and business lockdowns, shutdowns, curfews and compulsory mask-wearing? What about the level of Panic Buying earlier this year, which we haven’t seen in our living memories, all fueled by fear and miscommunication from respective media outlets and governments. In any case, I can proudly say that despite all these confrontational challenges, all MGATMA members around Australia are to be commended for their resilience and determination to serve and support their respective communities with food, groceries and household items during these very challenging times. As all members are experiencing, Australian retail is now heading into the final stretch of what has been a surreal, challenging and bizarre year for the retail sector and life in general. It’s hard to believe that we are now just some days away from Christmas, New Year and the summer holidays. Christmas and the festive season is traditionally a very strong period of trading for all our members. It’s a time when customers are searching for different celebratory food, grocery and packaged liquor ideas to share with their families and friends during this special time. One very good outcome of the COVID-19 Pandemic has meant that local communities have once again found their local retailers. The very local retailers who support and service their communities every day. It is now time to continue to offer these loyal customers an exceptional shopping experience during this festive season. Customers are bound to celebrate Christmas like no other after such a constrained year we have all experienced. Waste and Energy Management have been very big issues for members for many decades. Energy has become an expensive commodity, and waste disposal is now of a great concern owing to the cost of waste management. Whilst we believe that most members have made a significant effort in their stores to put in place measures to reduce their energy consumption, very little has been done in waste management. MGATMA began to focus on two areas to assist members. Reducing the cost of waste management and seeking out solutions to avoid waste going into landfill.
Recognising the urgency to address the management of waste in members stores and businesses and believing that we can all make an enormous difference toward the health of our precious environment, MGATMA together with long time corporate partner Aussie Energy, set up a Joint Venture “social enterprise” Company named, “Australian Circular Economy Solutions Pty Ltd” – (ACES). MGA President Debbie Smith is the Chair of this new Company and Aussie NRG Director; Max Haas is CEO. This Company is totally dedicated to collecting all waste from members and turning that waste into a revenue stream, for members. This waste includes organic waste or compostable fresh foods, timber offcuts and non-organic waste such as cardboard, hard and soft plastics, glass and so on. We look forward to inviting all our members around Australia to join us in our bid to stamp out waste to save our environment. On behalf of MGA’s hard-working Board of directors and MGATMA’s staff, we wish all our members, stakeholders and industry friends and their families a fabulous festive season. We trust you will stay safe and find the opportunity somewhere for some relaxation with family. Until next edition – Best Wishes! Jos de Bruin CEO MGA Independent Retailers
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COVID-19 Business Recovery Groups During the disastrous national bushfire season and since the commencement of the COVID-19 Pandemic and the subsequent shutdowns and lockdowns of communities and businesses in all states and territories in Australia, MGA has been heavily involved in a variety of Business Recovery Groups. At a Federal Level, MGA as a member of COSBOA and Director of the COSBOA Board has attended and contributed to weekly COVID-19 business stimulus meetings together with Ministers such as Michaelia Cash and Treasurer Josh Frydenburg, Shadow Ministers, members of both sides of Parliament, regulator chiefs such as ATO Commissioner, Chris Jordan, National Covid Commissioner Nev power, FWO Sandra Parker, Kate Carnell ASBFEO and Federal Treasury executives. Issues and matters facing the survival of small, family and privately owned businesses were discussed, and policies developed to enable swift business survival assistance. Many business support matters were discussed including the extension of the JobKeeper program and its practical application at a business level to retain staff, the cash flow boost, training opportunities, commercial tenancies and rent payment relief, enabling access to bank loans and funds, deferring loan payments, the mental health of business owners and their staff, competition matters including suppliers of food and groceries preferencing the major chain stores and driving a Go Local Campaign. State-based Business Stimulus and Recovery meetings regularly took place with the NSW, Qld and Victorian
mga.asn.au | December 2020 | Edition 8
Members of the COSBOA Board. L-R: Jos de Bruin, Sandy Chong, Elizabeth Skirving, Peter Strong, Colm Maguire, Dominic Schipano, David Gandolfo, Christine Pope and Mark McKenzie
Governments. Various state government departments took the lead to gather state industry stakeholders to consult and listen to issues and suggestions as to how small businesses could be supported in a real and practical way. These meetings included Small Business Ministers, Small Business Commissioners, treasury officials and industry association leaders who provided diverse insights concerning their members and the mental health and unprecedented commercial challenges they faced during the Pandemic. These forums were also used to raise the profile of MGATMA members. To acknowledge the huge role they have been playing in their communities and serve their communities in a COVID-Safe way, with food, groceries, household goods, as well as timber and hardware items.
Each state had its issues to deal with, in particular, Victoria which implemented a total shutdown of the entire Victorian community and businesses, except for supermarkets, newsagents and pharmacies, (Timber and Hardware click and collect) and imposed a curfew between the hours of 8.00 pm and 5.00 am each day. This caused great angst with business owners and their families up until Tuesday 27th October, when businesses were allowed to reopen in a COVID-Safe way. MGATMA and other industry leaders advocated strongly for a business preparation time, before opening, to be allowed so that businesses could open in a prepared manner, but this suggestion was unfortunately ignored.
INDUSTRY NEWS
Victorian Business Recovery Committee -Jaala Pulford Victorian Small Business Minister
Shadow IR Minister Tony Burke
Victorian Small Business Minister Jaala Pulford meets COSBOA
Richard Marles Deputy Opposition Leader - ALP
Anthony Albanese Leader of the Opposition - ALP
NSW Treasury and COSBOA Board
Kate Carnell ASBFEO COVID-19 Recovery Budget
Go Local First - Sml Bus Minister Michaelia Cash (R) and Katie Allen MP (L)
NSW Treasury Business Recovery Plan
NSW Treasury Business Recovery Plan
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LEGAL AND IR
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Enjoying the Staff Christmas Celebrations Each year we remind members about you and your staff enjoying your Christmas celebrations. Obviously, during the Pandemic, we need to be very careful in relation to any gathering of staff and members should make sure that they follow the social gathering rules in their State or Territory. We remind Members that the employer remains responsible for the well-being and safety of their employees during these celebrations. It is essential to make sure that employees abide by appropriate standards of behaviour and safety in order to avoid any employer liability in case things go wrong. Sexual harassment is one of the most common problems that arise out of the staff Christmas party. If an incident of sexual harassment occurs whether at the worksite or off-site if it is work-related, then the employer can be held responsible. Make sure that a copy of the company policy on sexual harassment is well-known to all employees. Overindulgence in alcohol is generally the cause of Christmas workplace problems. Sometimes disagreements occur due to excessive drinking, and they have been known to end up in physical fights.Here are some tips to assist employers in managing the Christmas celebrations:
» Tell your employees, in writing, that you want everyone
to have a good time and that you expect them to behave responsibly. Warn employees that they should exercise caution in regard to the consumption of alcohol.
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Consider making cab vouchers available for staff to get home from the party or call for volunteer drivers amongst staff who don’t drink alcohol.
» Do not allow anyone from your Company to serve alcohol to staff, and advise bartenders not to serve anyone who appears intoxicated.
» Make sure there are plenty of soft drinks available and make sure that food is served.
» Do not make the function compulsory, and don’t
insist that staff have an alcoholic drink as part of their “networking obligations”. This could be seen as part of the job requirements, and the employer may be liable if there is an accident on the way home.
Providing your employees with a few simple reminders will ensure that everyone has a good time during their festive celebrations. Contact MGA Legal and Industrial Relations team on 1800 999 479 (option1)
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The Annual Wage Review 2020 and 2021 In 2020 MGATMA made a submission to the Fair Work Commission urging wage restraint when increases to wages in 2020 were due for consideration. We proposed the need for careful assessment of any significant wage rise due to the costly increases that had been granted in the previous three years. MGATMA focussed on matters such as the state of the economy, continuing underemployment that was impacting on the retail industry and how changes to the award were forcing retailers to work in their businesses themselves, and therefore they were not able to provide the number of working hours that previously had been available to employees. In addition to the difficulties of past increases in wages and difficult award terms and conditions, we had the impact of bushfires in early 2020. Then along came COVID-19 and the whole world plunged into chaos. Problems in employment and supplies began to worsen as the pandemic began its rampage across the globe, and then it hit Australia. As the Fair Work Commission considered the various submissions on what to award as a wage increase in 2020, employees began to lose their jobs in great numbers, and the economy in Australia and worldwide began to deteriorate. It was not just a question of whether the retail industry could sustain the effects of the pandemic, because by May 2020 all industries were being affected adversely and the economic situation was worsening. All States and Territories were affected by the disease, and by the end of June, the Fair Work Commission had no choice but to conclude that any increases in wages usually scheduled in past years to be effective from 1 July 2020 would have to be awarded at staggered times. The General Retail Industry award increase of 1.75% was made effective as from 1 February 2020, and the Timber Award was effective from 1 November 2020. These dates were significantly different from the previous traditional date of 1 July each year.
Throughout 2020 the Federal Government has tried to stem the devastating effects on the economy with such initiatives as JobKeeper, JobSeeker and JobMaker which have awarded various amounts of money to businesses and individual workers, in an attempt to maintain the economy. Now we have to consider what will be an appropriate recommendation for a wage increase in 2021, should it be a high percentage, and can the economy sustain a substantial increase? Should there be a low wage increase, and can low wage earners live on low incomes? Should we have any wage increase in 2021? These are questions that we all must consider as we start to think about a submission to the Annual Wage Review in the coming year. MGATMA has already commenced working on a submission to the Fair Work Commission in relation to the problems facing economic recovery. All industries have been affected, and the job market remains difficult. However, there are hopes of a successful vaccine, and that will raise the spirits of all Australians as we prepare to submit to the Fair Work Commission that economic recovery will take time, but there is still need for caution in the coming year in regard to any wage increases.
Hold a wider range of foods for longer with patented Flexeserve ZoneÂŽ technology. meris.com.au | 1800 265 771
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LEGAL AND HR
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MGATMA Legal and IR Teamannouncements Angeline Lee
MGATMA is very pleased to announce two new lawyers to our Legal and IR Team. They are Angeline Lee and Catherine FlannerySweet. They have both previously worked in the area of employment law and are looking forward to providing legal assistance to all our MGATMA members. We know that we are all currently coping with the difficulties associated with COVID-19. Still, our communication channels have remained open to our members, and we are available to offer assistance to you in respect of all your employment requirements. Both Angeline and Catherine have only just started with us, but they are both ready to assist you, as are David Mostokly and Marie Brown. So please call us whenever you need assistance. on 1800 888 479 (option1). David Mostokly has been with MGATMA for several years and has established a strong working relationship with our members. He
mga.asn.au | December 2020 | Edition 8
has resolved many workplace issues and has made a great contribution to the team. MGATMA is very pleased to elevate David to the position of Senior Workplace Relations Lawyer in the Legal and IR team. David is available to provide help and assistance on a wide range of issues to our members, and he enjoys the many challenges that are often presented to him. We wish him well in his new role.
Catherine Flannery-Sweet
Marie Brown | MGATMA National Legal Counsel David Mostokly | Senior Workplace Relations Lawyer Angeline Lee | MGATMA Legal and IR Services Lawyer Catherine Flannery-Sweet | MGATMA Legal and IR Services Lawyer (03) 9824 4111 (option 1)
David Mostokly
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Christmas Eve Trading Hours in Queensland, Northern Territory and South Australia.
The states of Queensland and South Australia and the Northern Territory will have a part-day public holiday on Christmas Eve which means if employees work after 6 pm, they will have to be paid public holiday rates, or they can have time off and start their Christmas celebrations early. Whilst this may be enjoyable for employees as they are able to make a choice and may want to get home early to their families but perhaps not so good for retailers. Many people leave their shopping until later on Christmas Eve and although trading
goes on retailers have to pay their employees high penalty rates to work on what will be a public holiday. The early Christmas holiday has been in South Australia and Northern Territory for a number of years but was only introduced in Queensland in 2019. The wage rates increase between 225% to 275% for retailers depending on whether the employees are permanent or casual. The cost presents a great burden on retailers, but the Governments insist that this is a special time and the need for staff to at least to have the opportunity to be with the family and friends early on Christmas Eve.
SHARE THE SCHWEPPERVESCENCEÂŽ
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INDUSTRY NEWS
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Federal Department of Home Affairs – Natural Disaster Preparation Forum On the 30th September 2020, the Federal Department of Home Affairs conducted an industry briefing about the need to prepare for the coming summer given the natural disaster experiences of last summer, and the weakened financial state of many businesses as a result of the COVID-19 economic downturn. MGATMA and a number of other industry associations including ACAPMA attended this workshop.
Home Affairs Food Security Forum
The national briefing was a timely reminder about the need for every business to make reasonable preparations for natural disasters over the next six months, possibly including an increased number of cyclones in Northern Australia, significant flooding events in Eastern Australia and the ever-present risk of bushfires in Southern and Western Australia. To say that 2020 has been a year most of us would rather forget is an understatement. The year opened with a bushfire catastrophe across four Australian States and Territories. These fires resulted in mass evacuations of key holiday areas, effectively removing customers
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from businesses in holiday areas during their busiest trading period of the year. The bushfires were preceded by a major flood event in Queensland, fires in South-east Queensland and Northern NSW. They were then followed by a disastrous ‘ice storm’ in Canberra, only to be trumped by the appearance of COVID19 and the advent of the biggest economic downturn that Australia has experienced since the Great Depression. The net effect of these successive events has been to drain the financial and emotional resources of business owners and their staff. That said, most business owners have since picked themselves up, dusted themselves off, and quietly set about building back
better businesses – an observation that is a credit to the strength and resilience of all Australians, regardless of their original country of origin. “But while the temptation for most of us is to wipe our collective brows and heave a collective sigh, the end of 2020 does not mean that the risk of natural disasters has gone away.” “As we all look forward to 2020/2021 summer with hope, we must also heed the lessons learnt from the natural disasters of the summer just passed”. This is not about being pessimistic. It is merely about being realistic and making necessary preparations that protect your business should your community be unlucky enough to
INDUSTRY NEWS
NATIONAL be impacted by a natural disaster this summer. With many businesses already having been financially weakened by the events of the past 12 months, this task is more crucial this year. Within this context, the Federal Department of Home Affairs arranged a briefing on the 30th September for industry about the natural disaster outlook for the upcoming summer. The meeting included briefings from the Australian Bureau of Meteorology (on likely weather events), the Australian Energy Market Operator (on continuity of electricity supply during disasters) and a major telecommunication provider (on the resilience of telecommunications services). The Bureau of Meteorology suggested that the cyclone season was likely to be more significant than it had been in recent years, with an expected increased number of cyclones in
Northern Australia. This development, in turn, was likely to bring an increased risk of major storm damage and flooding events in Eastern Australia. The upside, however, was that the moister air that was expected to reduce the extreme intensity of bushfires when compared with those of last summer. The meeting discussion then turned to the opportunity for industry segments to collaborate with a view to improving the effectiveness of pre-disaster preparations, in-disaster response, and the efficiency of post-disaster recovery activity for critical industries. “Our industry is a crucial player in natural disasters, with family-owned supermarkets, liquor stores, timber & hardware, fuel distribution and fuel retail businesses providing access to vital food, groceries, household items and fuel needed for emergency service operations and local communities that are impacted by natural disasters.” During the 2019/20 bushfires, many regional independent grocery supermarkets and service stations operated as a ‘base’ for fire service operations by providing food, groceries, drinks and fuel to support fire crews. “What we learnt during the last summer is that independent grocery supermarkets, timber and hardware businesses and service stations have a vital role to play during natural disasters, often being the ‘last to close and the first to open’ during natural disasters– providing the community with timely essential services during and immediately following, a natural disaster event.” The independent grocery supermarkets, timber and hardware and fuel industry’s capacity to support local communities during a natural disaster is both proven and undisputed. It, therefore, follows that our independent grocery supermarkets, timber and hardware, fuel distribution and fuel retail businesses need to be better supported by electricity retailers and
telecommunication providers – and this national meeting was a very positive step in this conversation. MGATMA and ACAPMA will continue to work alongside major industry stakeholders to promote collaborations that take stock of the lessons learned last summer and developing the collaborations needed to better support all our members’ businesses in the face of future natural disasters.
Steps to mitigate risk In the meantime, it is time for all business owners to consider and implement practical steps to prepare their businesses should we see a repeat of the disasters of last summer. Specifically, this means ensuring that:
• Your business has a current disaster management plan that provides for the safety of your customers, your people and your premises
• You have made arrangements with
your energy retailer about how you will operate in the event of electricity supply being interrupted, including modification of your switchboard to provide for quick connection to a generator (and that you have made prior arrangements for sourcing an appropriately sized generator)
• You have spoken with your food
and grocery, hardware and fuel distributor/supplier about delivery arrangements during a natural disaster
• You have taken practical steps
to ensure that you can maintain business communications and security services if telecommunication services are lost.
• Your current business insurances
are fit-for-purpose and provide optimal protection of your people and your assets.
“None of us wants a repeat of what happened last summer. We must, however, be more prepared for this summer than we were at this time last year”.
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Federal Budget 2021 very supportive of small businesses MGATMA welcomes the strong and committed Federal Budget which Treasurer Josh Frydenburg announced on 6th October 2020. This record spending budget will drive business confidence and benefit family and private business recovery as we come out of the COVID-19 Pandemic restrictions.
MGATMA attended a post-budget summary event with Member for Higgins Katie Allen and Treasurer Josh Frydenburg on 9th October at which many questions were asked and answered in regard to the benefits of the budget to family and private businesses The Federal Budget includes a number of new, extended and existing measures to further support small business including: $26.7 billion in instant asset write-offs for business - uncapped.
» $1.2 billion on the extension of
wage subsidies for apprentices and trainees
» $800 million national digitisation plan
The Federal Budget announced by Treasurer Josh Frydenberg was a strong response to a very fast weakening Australian economy and included a big fiscal spending component, investing in infrastructure projects around Australia for immediate commencement.
The Federal Government and Treasurer Josh Frydebrburg have focused on the small business sector to drive Australia’s economic recovery and business confidence which is a welcome relief for many distressed family and private businesses around Australia.
The Instant Asset Write-off facility will continue but has been supercharged - small businesses can now write-off the full value of assets purchased until 2022, giving businesses the confidence to invest in much-needed business equipment, refurbishments and upgrades.
» $15 billion in JobKeeper payments – extended to March 2021
» $850 million on JobMaker hiring
credit payable for up to 12 months to employers who hire young
Member for Higgins Katie Allen
» people (aged 16-35 years) » $1.9 billion for loss carry-back tax provision
» $4.3 million for Beyond Blue’s
NewAccess service, providing mental health support for small businesses
Treasurer Josh Frydenburg mga.asn.au | December 2020 | Edition 8
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MGA Board of Directors Nominations The rules associated with MGA being a nationally registered organisation with the Registered Orgnisations Commission (ROC) is that 1/3 of MGA Board of Directors must step down every November. MGA must then go out to all members, inviting expressions of interest to become a MGA Director. Those Board members who have stepped down generally renominate. If there are more than 3 nominations for 3 Board positions, then the Australian Electoral Commission will then reach out to MGA members to conduct a ballot. A ballot was not required this year, as longserving and dedicated MGA Director, Mick Daly did not renominate, and Ripple Parekh applied and was successful in becoming MGA’s new company director.
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From L to R to back — Mick Daly (Vic), Debbie Smith (President—Qld), Lincoln Wymer (Vic/NSW), Grant Hinchcliffe (Tas), Ross Anile (WA), Graeme Gough (NSW), Peter Alexander (MGA TMA Committee). Middle L to R — Chris Dos Santos (SA), Carmel Goldsmith (NSW/ACT), Jeff Harper (Vic), Phil Ibbotson (Company Secretary), MGA CEO Jos de Bruin.
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Farewell Mick Daly After more than 20 years of dedicated and committed service to MGA’s Board of Directors, Michael (Mick) Daly, our friend and industry mentor, has not renominated to continue on as a Director on MGA’s Board in 2021. Mick and his family have many exciting plans before them, including the realisation of a dream to establish a large modern licensed supermarket in their Western Victorian home town of Koroit. The Daly family, who own 3 supermarkets (Portland, Heyfield and Koroit) in the district, have been operating a grocery store in Koroit for over 100 continuous years. Mick and Peter Daly have commenced the build of their new dream supermarket which the Koroit township will be very proud of and will seal the future for Daly family generations to come. During Mick’s tenure as one of MGA’s Directors, Mick oversaw the MGAV growing from a Victorian Based Industry Organisation in 2005 into the highly recognised and credible registered national employer association that it is today. Mick is an inspirational retailer and industry leader. He is fiercely independent and has opposed and confronted many issues and matters that have affected the livelihoods of family and privately owned supermarkets and liquor stores around Australia. Mick has served on many industry national and state Boards and committees all the while fitting in his crucial MGA day to day roles and duties. We can not thank Mick (and Donna) enough for all he has done for the MGA and the industry sector as a whole over the past 20 years. Mick is a great friend of us all, and we know he isn’t far away if we need him Best wishes and thank you, Mick, from all of us at MGA.
Welcome new Board Member Ripple Parekh MGATMA extends a warm welcome and congratulations to Ripple Parekh, who nominated and was successful in attaining a Directorship on MGA’s Board. Ripple joined his family-owned supermarket, liquor and fuel station business seven years ago.Today Ripple’s family, own and operate 12 businesses in Sydney and regional NSW. Ripple passionately managed and operated their FoodWorks Super Cellars store located Condobolin in regional NSW for a number of years and fully embraced the regional community this store served. Ripple profoundly understands the role this store played as the hub of their community and that it is the centre point for their customers whilst experiencing severe drought conditions for several years. Ripple is now located in Sydney and is responsible for the group of stores and is focused on maximising exceptional customer shopping experiences whilst containing the costs to operate each business. Ripple is committed to assisting family-owned and private supermarket and packaged liquor businesses around Australia. Welcome to Ripple Parekh to MGA’s Board.
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Ripple Parekh joins MGA as a new Board member as of 18 November 2020. With stores in NSW and Qld, operating under the Foodworks and IGA banners, Ripple’s time as a Director - Parekh Group is similar to that of many of our members. Kept busy working on the business and leaving the ‘back of house operations’ to MGA, gives Ripple confidence he can get on with business and concentrate on running the operation.
Independent Retailer held a Q&A with Ripple to see what makes him tick. IR: How long have you been in retail? RP: It was my uncle who started our family business of Retail Service Stations, Supermarkets & Bottleshops back in 2001. I joined him almost seven years ago. I spent my first couple of years on the ground working in one of our group stores – Foodworks Condobolin before moving to Sydney and taking on the responsibility of the group stores owned by our family. IR: What keeps you up at night? RP: Retail businesses are getting difficult for Retailers to stay afloat. I am in particular concerned about the longterm sustainability of independent retailers. Over the years, we have seen that the Gross Margins are shrinking, and the overheads are increasing. Especially the rate at which the rent, wages & insurance costs are going up. It seems to be very difficult for retailers to sustain in the long run. Apart from the increased turnover in the COVID period, the turnover of independent retail stores has not been
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increasing at the rate at which the wage & insurance costs are. IR: Describe your experience in 2020, with bushfires, droughts, floods, and the coronavirus. How have you kept the team motivated? RP: 2020 has been a mixed year for independent retail, although the tourist towns have suffered more than everyone else during the bushfire season. Most of our stores are located in regional NSW in towns not affected by Bushfires. However, our stores had been in a drought region for past 3-4 years. Overall, there were a lot of businesses closing down or struggling during that period. However, moving into summer this year we are anticipating that we are going to have a really good harvest season in Regional NSW and hopefully the economy of the town will boom again with money flowing into the region. Coronavirus has played a completely reverse effect for the independent retail sector; almost all of our stores are trading higher than last year. I believe with the COVID restrictions and uncertainty; people tend to stay home more and end up eating and drinking more at home rather than going out to a restaurant or a pub. IR: Do you have any community program or sponsorships? ie. donate to local charities etc. RP: Yes, it is very important for regional businesses to engage with their local community and support the community events/sports teams with sponsorships from time to time. I would especially like to thank Metcash for their Community Chest Program, which helps us upscale our community sponsorships and donations.
IR: What do you believe MGA does well, and what can we look to focus on over the next few years? RP: MGA does well for Retailers. However, the majority of the work done by MGA does not get noticed, or in other words, retailers are not completely aware of what all services MGA has to offer. I believe over the next few years, MGA can work on reaching out to their member and increasing their level of engagements. It would be interesting to see how many members engage with MGA? And how often? Unfortunately, we are not having conferences and Expos this year, but maybe there can be a small presentation on the work done / services offered by MGA during one of these events. IR: As a retailer, what is important to you about an organisation like MGA? RP: The most important part is keeping the rising wage costs in check. The increase in wage cost has to be sustainable for most retailers. The independent retail sectors have lost too many stores with Metro stores coming to a point where they are no longer sustainable for majority retailers. Maybe work with the government to abolish Payroll Tax, which accordingly me is a dis-incentive for employers to hire more employees after a point of time. I strongly believe there will be many more jobs created if Payroll Tax is abolished. IR: What does competition look like in the towns that you operate in, and what do you do differently? RP: Being a family-owned multi-site operator, we operate in different
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environments. In certain towns, we are the only store. In some towns we are one of only two stores in town and a couple of our stores are in highly competitive regions with all the competition around us. We are a volume driven business (compared to profit-driven), we take pride in providing city prices to our regional stores. Even in the towns, where we are the only store in town, we tend to keep our prices competitive and try to stop people from shopping out of town. Apart from that, we try very hard to expand our range and try and cater to all our customer needs, so people don’t need to travel long distances out of town to get things they need.
Parekh Group Family stores.
POP THIS
» IGA Hillston - NSW » IGA Tregear - NSW » IGA Walgett - NSW » SUPA IGA Coonamble - NSW » IGA Lake Cargelligo - NSW » IGA – Supercellars West Wyalong - NSW
» IGA Yass - NSW » Foodworks - Supercellars Condobolin - NSW
» BP-Foodworks Glenview - QLD » Foodworks Canowindra - NSW » Foodworks - Supercellars Lake Cargelligo - NSW
» Taste Canowindra Bottler – NSW
PROSECCO! Over the past few years Prosecco has taken the world by storm. De Bortoli Wines released our first Prosecco from King Valley in 2016 and is currently ranked #2 Prosecco in Australia at $6 million and growing +49.3% in the latest MAT 20 September 2020.* Now with increased consumer interest for all things Rosé, De Bortoli Prosecco Rosé is the new pink.
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*Source: IRI Australian Liquor Weighted
TASTING NOTE Across the globe, Prosecco flows almost as freely as the King River. Prosecco Rosé has a gorgeous pale colour, is very lively and dangerously delicious. Great for a garden party or as an aperitif with friends and family. For a pink spritz, try with pink Gin and soda.
AVAILABLE DECEMBER 2020 For further information please contact your De Bortoli Area Manager.
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Industry Reflections -MGA President Debbie Smith On Wednesday 18th November 2020, MGA President, Debbie Smith, delivered an inspiring message to over 80 MGATMA Annual General Meeting attendees, who all participated via video. Here below is the transcript below of Debbie’s insights and words of inspiration.
MGATMA members and special guests - Thank you all for dialling into our 2020 AGM. Who could have known as I stood to welcome members to the 2020 AGM that I would be sitting in my Toowoomba, Queensland, home welcoming our members and guests via video in 2020? This year has been a year of anxiety, frustration and flux for our industries and MGA team. It has also been a year of innovation, determination and drive. Cognitive penetrability is a psychological phenomenon that occurs if higher-level cognitive states, such as beliefs, desires, intentions, etc., can directly influence the perceptual experience. Within the MGA, we have managed to turn these feelings into action. We perceived that the global pandemic might reveal opportunities that may not have presented themselves otherwise, and they became manifest. Jos and MGATMA’s terrific team piloted members through the myriad of diverse state-based COVID legislation, where their support and guidance was all we had. Victoria’s lockdown compounded our survival guilt as we looked on at our fellow small businesses and wondered how the engine room of Australia might survive and thrive. While our industry has generally benefited from the restrictions designed to contain the virus, our stores in high-tourism precincts and the inner city have been challenged by a lack of regular foot traffic, incompatible rental demands and downturns in productivity as employees from many companies eschew the CBD in favour of working from home. Government Assistant packages helped and stabilised our small businesses, a policy which became a lifeline for some.
mga.asn.au | December 2020 | Edition 8
My fear and that of the MGA Board is that the big retailers have also benefited considerably from the market constraints of 2020. The market power and dominance of the supermarket chains in a post COVID world is our industry’s virus. Jos, MGATMA’s team and the Directors of the MGA have spent countless video hours to assist governments in developing Economic Recovery Plans to target small business and create jobs. If small business grows, we grow. We work together in community hubs; we support each other and understand what it is to have your house on the line, to dream of growth, and experience success. The MGATMA is a membership organisation. It’s our raison d’être. I am proud that the board I lead has asked the question, where will this take us in 20 years? Where will the Independent Supermarket Retailers, Timber Merchants, Hardware Stores and Liquor stores be in 20 years’ time? Will there be a future for the next generation in the independents, or will our market be so saturated with big players that we become an anachronism, an irrelevance? This was our question. This will always be our question. This question in a year of drought, bush fires, floods and a pandemic has sharpened our senses to what matters. Our members’ matter. Their communities’ matter, their staff matter, their sustainability matters and their futures matter; not only to us but to the Australian community in years to come. The initiatives and innovations that will be announced today are designed to assist retailers of all sizes and brands to pursue a sustainable future. A future where we can reduce our cost of doing business, a future where the consumer will choose an
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independent because of the values they embody, a future where our community supports are recognised and championed, not as marketing spin but as avenues to make a real difference in a thriving local community.
to collaborate, to inspire. They believed it was possible, and the belief became action. We hope that after our meeting today, you will be able to use your cognitive penetrability to manifest and share our vision of a sustainable economic future.
This has been a transient year for the industry and our board. The year of the Zoom meeting, the year of discovery and leadership. And it would be remiss of me not to acknowledge that it would not have been achieved without the help of our retiring of long-serving and dedicated Director Michael Daly. Mick could see that the future of the MGAV was to become a national organisation known now as the MGA. Mick could see that independent retailers and our industry sector in general, around Australia, needed to be united. Thank you to Mick for your friendship and vision for a stronger independent retailing future.
Thank you. Debbie Smith MGA President & owner of 3 supermarkets in Toowoomba QLD.
Jos, MGATMA’s dedicated Team and the Directors of the MGA, could have easily decided that this year was too hard. They could have decided the challenges and complexities of replacing full board meetings with three-hour Zoom meetings were insurmountable. But they didn’t. They chose instead to innovate,
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Attorney General and Industrial Relations Minister, Christian Porter Industrial Relations Reform Groups The purpose of the Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s IR Reform programme which commenced in the first week in July and was completed at the end of September, was to fully investigate five areas of Industrial Relations complexity that we, Industry Groups and Unions, may be able to simplify without taking away a single employee benefit. The intention was that the outcomes (changes and simplifications) from each Working Group would give employers a strong reason to employ additional staff, offer more hours of work and drive the Australian economy out of Covid-19 and the current recession, as onerous barriers and complexities would be removed 5 Working Groups were formed and all Chaired by Minister Christian Porter and Co-Chaired by Consultant Tim Marney.
The 5 Working Groups were entitled: Enterprise Bargaining Arrangements, Greenfields sites, Casual Employees, Compliance & Enforcement and Award Simplicity. MGATMA and COSBOA were heavily engaged in the 3 Working Groups most relevant to all our members – Casual Employees, Compliance & Enforcement and Award Simplicity. There were 5 Employer groups involved in the five working groups, (MGATMA/ COSBOA, ACCI, AIG, NRA & AHA) and 5 Employee groups (Unions – SDA, ACTU) on each Working Group. Many meetings, workshops and forums were held over a 12 week period to drive for positive recommendations, at the Prime Ministers request, by the end of September. Ultimately most of the suggested changes will be tabled in the Parliament.
Photo source @ABC (AAP)
mga.asn.au | December 2020 | Edition 8
There was a great deal of effort put into explaining the complexities of the various Awards, currently stifling employment, with the employee groups (Unions) but there has not been any positive response for any of the proposed changes from the unions during these rigorous discussions and workshops.
It is estimated that MGATMA National Legal Counsel, Marie Brown and Jos de Bruin spent over 280 hours (21 hours per week) combined on this groundbreaking initiative led by the Attorney General Christian Porter – between 1 July and 30 September – MGATMA has suggested a number of simplifications to the General Retail Industry Award including; Part-Time Flexibility, all in rates for Casual Employees (week & weekend), annualized salaries, ability for employees and employers to make their own mutually beneficial working arrangements, JobKeeper flexibilities to be continued and the creation of a Small Business Model Schedule for Businesses with 40 FTEs or less. We await the outcomes of this rigorous process to help simplify the awards toward making it easier and less complex to employ more people and to offer additional hours of work. MGATMA thanks Attorney General and Minister for Industrial Relations, Christian Porter for the opportunity to represent members from around Australia on the IR Reform Working Groups and is confident the right simple changes to various awards can transform the workplace and drive employment growth.
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Introducing MGA’s new emerging priority to assist members with ongoing Waste and Energy costs:
Australian Circular Economy Solutions What is ACES? Australian Circular Economy Solutions (ACES) started as an idea, an idea that became a vision for independents to reduce waste going into landfill, reduce energy costs and provide a potential additional revenue stream for MGATMA members. The ACES vision has become a Joint Venture business, 50% owned by MGATMA in collaboration with Easy NRG (a division of Aussie NRG, MGA TMA’s Corporate Partner). The purpose of ACES is to encourage all communities to be world beacons in sustainability by adopting Circular Economy principals in everyday life. The goal of ACES is to assist Australian businesses to reach net-zero emissions. ACES is structured as a Social Enterprise, to achieve a
social benefit (i.e. sustainability). 50% of the net profit is used to further the businesses social mission and value offering, which will support our purpose to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and have a whole of industry, trade, and community benefit. ACES will explore government funding opportunities to assist members in developing waste reduction solutions to understand better their sustainability goals, objectives, and best energy practices. ACES will assist members by communicating these results to your customers in a meaningful way. Showing how much waste you have diverted from landfill and the associated carbon
footprint reduction achieved through the ‘Sustainable Supermarkets’ initiatives, which are targeted to address the consumers’ growing environmental concerns. ‘Sustainable Supermarket Solutions’ will focus on both organic and nonorganic waste. Organic includes fruit and vegetables, sawdust and timber offcuts. Non-organic includes soft plastics, cardboard and glass. ‘Sustainable Supermarkets’ tailors solutions to help businesses significantly reduce and eliminate waste to landfill and reduce costs.
Sustainable Supermarkets Sustainable Supermarkets is the first program developed by ACES and the MGA.
mga.asn.au | December 2020 | Edition 8
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Excess food waste recycled into organic fertiliser
The program aims to help attract customers to retailers businesses that are working to improve the environment by ensuring that both waste generated, and energy used is sustainably managed. ACES will support members in these actions and engagement with your community by:
• Sharing your business’ sustainability actions with resulting environmental benefits.
• Helping businesses access products and services which support the circular economy and make these available to customers.
• Supporting community programs
to build customer awareness and encouragement to participate in a positive environmental landscape.
What have we done?
ACES Case Study With the help of Australian Circular Economy Solutions (ACES), Arthur Corcoris – the owner of Paul’s Supa IGA and Heathmont IGA Victoria – underwent a business sustainability assessment to become the first ‘Sustainable Supermarket’ by implementing a range of initiatives
aimed at reducing waste, improving energy usage, and updating operational procedures to improve overall sustainability. ACES partnered with Arthur to install a waste dehydrator resulting in a 50% reduction in the number of organic waste pickups needed by his store and the creation of fertiliser as a by-product which is now being reintroduced as a new product line for sale in his store.
As part of the MGA membership, Paul’s IGA now a ‘Sustainable Supermarket’ is offering his excess organic food waste to customers recycled into fertiliser, ensuring the Circular Economy journey from the shelf, rescued from waste, then recycled is now enriching the soil of Paul’s IGA customers. For more information go to:
www.mga.asn.au/sustainability email: aces@mga.asn.au or phone the
The ACES team also helped to access the Victorian Environmental Protection Authority to assist with grants to subsidise the organic waste dehydrator. This deployment allowed Arthur to reduce his waste pickups and be cash-flow positive from day one.
ACES team on: 1300 849 908
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The future of traditional Retail and “Online” in a COVID Normal environment As MGATMA members will know, the COVID-19 Pandemic has brought significant changes to the way we as communities and consumers live our daily lives. The lockdowns and shutdowns imposed upon citizens, by Governments in different states and territories, since January 2020, with various degrees of severity and length of time, has caused consumers to dramatically change the way they live, including avoiding leaving home for fear of contracting this insidious virus. Consumers are resilient, and they soon realised there is another world of COVIDSafe shopping and that is Online. MGATMA members around Australia have bent over backwards to try and assist their communities with the supply of food, groceries and household goods via a variety of COVIDSafe means including online click and collect retailing and home deliveries. The online shopping phenomenon has increased exponentially in each month since January. Digital channels, particularly click-andcollect, have grown substantially during the Pandemic as many of our members and retailers were forced to adjust their services to maintain revenue streams. It is interesting to note that online retail sales turnover in September 2020 performed nearly 75 per cent above the same period last year. With shops across the country now reopened, albeit with restrictions, we can expect to see the rate of online sales to gradually reduce. However, there is certainly a permanent shift in consumer behaviour occurring, and digital avenues will remain key for many businesses moving forward. Online shopping has been further leveraged by consumers through several online shopping events that occurred during November including; Click Frenzy mga.asn.au | December 2020 | Edition 8
this week, Black Friday and Cyber Monday. The latter two events offered shoppers Christmas shopping bargains. MGATMA strongly encourages members to be attuned to the needs of their customers and note that whilst offering customers an excellent in-store shopping experience that it is now time to invest in a local community online shopping experience! By way of illustrating the phenomenal online retail sales growth - Woolworths group during the COVID-19 Pandemic has been scrambling to find the extra capacity to despatch online orders after online food sales doubled in the September quarter, reaching 8 per cent of total supermarket sales. After doubling delivery and pick-up capacity in the June half to meet a surge in online demand, Woolworths is searching for spaces in the back stores or close to stores that can be converted at little additional cost to sort online orders. “We’re supply-constrained not demand constrained,” Woolworths chief executive Brad Banducci has recently told analysts, after revealing that online sales across the group rose a staggering 86.7 per cent to $1.5 billion in the September quarter. Online food sales in Australia rose 100 per cent to $961 million or 8 per cent of sales, online supermarket sales rose 50.5 per cent in New Zealand to almost 12 per cent of sales, Big W’s online sales rose 175 per cent, reaching 9.3 per cent penetration, and online sales at Endeavour
Drinks rose 58 per cent to 8.6 per cent. Mr Banducci said the online business was gaining scale and pick rates and delivery efficiencies were improving, but Woolworths still needed more capacity. “When we add services, we seem to fill up very quickly,” he said. “We’re looking at back of house to see how it can be repurposed – there’s capex involved, but it’s capital lite – that’s why it’s our first port of call,” said Mr Banducci, who wants to ‘sweat’ Woolworths existing assets and drive efficiency rather than increasing investment. The accelerating shift to online also has implications for Woolworths’ store network. While Woolworths still planned to open about 15 to 20 new stores a year, layout and location would change to better meet digital needs. “That’s a big body of work underway in our business,” Mr Banducci said. The boom in e-commerce augmented strong in-store sales growth to lift Woolworths’ September quarter sales by 12.3 per cent to $17.9 billion, almost double the rate of growth in the September quarter a year ago, as stayat-home consumers spent more on food and groceries liquor, homewares and toys. Same-store sales in Australian supermarkets rose 11.5 per cent after rising 8.9 per cent in the June quarter and 6.6 per cent in the September quarter a year ago. Woolworths info source - Sydney Morning Herald
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MGA Opposes Woolworths proposed 65% acquisition of PFD Food Service MGA Independent Retailers, as a national employer industry organisation and on behalf of the members of MGA, strongly opposes the initial proposed acquisition of a 65% shareholding in PFD Food Services Pty Ltd (PFD) by Woolworths Group Ltd (Woolworths). MGA as the peak national industry body representing independent, family and privately owned retailers nationwide, we regard the proposed acquisition as a serious threat to thousands of small and medium-sized independent businesses who are strongly reliant on the supply of products from PFD. The acquisition will be a competitive disadvantage to their businesses in the future. MGA’s members are concerned with having to make a submission to oppose this proposed acquisition when in fact many MGA members are advocating that Woolworth’s domination in Australia’s market is so strong that the Woolworths Group ought to be considered for divestiture to rekindle consumer choice and to enhance a robust, diverse and competitive food and grocery market place. MGA submits that the proposed “creeping” acquisition will further drive Woolworths Group market domination of Australia’s Food and Grocery supply chain, further lessening competition in the Australian Food and Grocery marketplace, in contravention of Section 50 of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 which states that, “Section 50 (1) A corporation must not directly or indirectly: Acquire shares in the capital of a body corporate;0r Acquire any assets of a person; If the acquisition would have the effect or be likely to have the effect if substantially lessening competition in any market.” MGA submits that there is a serious risk that the proposed “creeping” acquisition will have the effect of damaging the
interests of small businesses around Australia as there is a serious risk to the competitive environment in which both Woolworths, PFD and thousands of small businesses are operational. Woolworths has a long history of involvement in creeping acquisitions, whether it be in the supermarket or liquor industries. Woolworths supermarket (food, groceries and household goods) growth has been predicated upon numerous creeping acquisitions over decades. These included the Victorian Safeway Supermarket chain in 1985 and many other independent supermarkets from the 1990s, particularly in Victoria. In the early 2000s acquisition of up to 80 Franklin supermarkets resulted in Woolworths being a dominant food and grocery business, with significant and unprecedented control over Australia’s food and grocery supply chain from paddock to plate. Woolworths has also acquired many businesses in the liquor industry in order to drive for dominance in the hospitality and retail liquor industries. Woolworths acquired the Australian Leisure and Hospitality Group of hotels availing itself to a vast network of gaming machines, packaged liquor bottle shops and “on-premise” venues. Woolworths also acquired the online wine giant Cellar Masters in 2011 allowing further Woolworth’s dominance in the Liquor Industry and thus becoming the number 1 Online Liquor Retailer in
Australia having crowded out many of its competitors through its dominance. It is of great concern to MGA members Australia wide that this same scenario will play out in the Food Service sector where Woolworths yet again through a creeping acquisition is able to further dominate the food and grocery supply chain. MGA submits that Woolworths proposed acquisition of 65% of PFD is just the beginning of growing further ownership to eventually own PFD outright, to ensure without doubt, that Woolworths will once again dominate another Food and Grocery sector – Food Service. MGA has lodged a submission with the ACCC to point out that there are sound reasons for our strong opposition to the proposed acquisition based on the legal requirements of Section 50 of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010. The proposed acquisition of PFD by Woolworths is of great concern as this may put at risk, robust competition. By stifling local food and grocery distributors and supplier entrepreneurship and innovation, which is the hallmark for establishing a competitive point of difference to drive competition and higher standards. MGA will keep members informed of the ACCC’s findings as they arise.
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Fair Competition for all in the time of COVID-19 This COVID crisis has shown why we need a fit for purpose competition policy and a properly resourced ACCC to police it.
MGATMA has raised this matter often at State and Federal government level as well as with the ACCC and Kate Carnell ASBFEO. Large corporations such as Woolworths, Coles and Bunnings have been allowed to operate and to drive their dominance during the COVID-19 Pandemic at the expense of small businesses which were unable to open. This has left the small business sector suffering. The early lack of essentials such as hand sanitiser, masks and other PPE, along with the panic buying of certain goods and medicines, showed we need to be better prepared. Despite these initial hiccups, so far, we have done very well, and that is because our competition policy has helped create a community better prepared than it might have been. Competition policy should highlight which are the industries and sectors that must be viable so that in the worst of times they are functional, diverse and able to provide the support, the goods and the services we need. These industries should not be protected (protection creates laziness and kills innovation), but they should be supported so that they are in existence when we need them. Competition policy must also be about having our own (sovereign) capacity as a nation to provide health assistance through readily available medicine, PPE and health equipment and services. Imagine, if you will, that we had no effective competition policy and as a result, the retail market was dominated mga.asn.au | December 2020 | Edition 8
by two or maybe three companies? Imagine that shopping centre developers were allowed free reign to develop mega complexes.
the unavailability of local retail premises. Medical centres and doctor’s premises would have been re-zoned out of the suburbs and into the malls.
The biggest retailers would have forced all the smaller players out of the market by using their unfettered market power. Besides the fact that prices would rise it also means there would be less choice.
We are not against shopping centres as there are many franchises in the centres run by small and family business folk, and many people enjoy visiting the centres at some time or another. We are against there being no choice for consumers but to visit a large shopping centre. The creation of local retail monopolies creates a situation where the biggest landlords can use their power to destroy businesses by unscrupulous use of leases and increasing rent by exorbitant amounts.
As a result, when COVID hit, and we were locked down, we would have had a lot fewer places to shop. Instead of being able to go to nearby smaller shopping centres for groceries, food and medical supplies, people would have been forced into mega shopping centres, and as a result of larger crowds and longer lines, there would have been a greater chance of spreading the virus. In these centres, customers would have had to park in underground or high rise car parks and walk a long way to get the one thing they needed. We in COSBOA have argued for decades that the way the biggest shopping centres are created - by schmoozing with local government planners, having car parks removed from outside the mall and forced underground inside the mall, and having streets and bus stops realigned - creates local retail monopolies and removes choice for consumers, as well as forcing up prices. Community-based pharmacies would have been decimated as the biggest retailers took over pharmaceutical products. Hairdressers and butchers would have been forced into malls due to
The Pandemic has shown that competition policy must include consideration of the health of the Australian community and its ability to respond to a crisis. With COVID it is about people being able to keep separated as far as possible to stop the spread of the virus yet still be able to live their lives safely or even in lockdown with access to services nearby. Re-write competition policy to reflect the needs of the community, not of property developers and the biggest landlords. Re-write it to ensure that we always have access to essential health products and services. It’s about people, and the selfemployed are people too.
Source Peter Strong CEO COSBOA
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this little pig x x market xxxxxx went to
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Introducing our gin-licious new Ginsecco™, with crisp prosecco, perfectly balanced gin, and spritzed soda
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To speak to a local Treasury Wine Estates representative, contact 134 893
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27/8/20 12:47 pm
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Qld Retailers meet with IR Minister Grace Grace – Trading Hours On the 24th September, a group of MGA members and IGA retailers met with QLD Industrial Relations Minister, Grace Grace to discuss a number of issues and matters of concern, particularly the current moratorium in place for no further changes or liberalisations to trading hours in Queensland. There is currently a moratorium in place until 2022. IGA Retailers who attended included, Roz White, Frank Spano, Dan Rigney and Terry Slaughter As we saw with the liberalisation of trading hours in South East Queensland more than three years ago, the big corporate chains benefitted from longer trading hours at the expense of family and private businesses. The promise the chains made to the Queensland Industrial Relations Commission and the QLD Government was that an extension of trading hours would drive incremental sales
Minister Grace Grace (RHS) with Roz (LHS) Back row L-R Frank, Dan and Terry.
and grow employment. This was a complete falsehood—a lie. There have been no additional sales in SEQ and no additional staff employed. In fact, family and private businesses (supermarkets), lost 10% or more in sales and have had to shed staff as a consequence. For the NRA and the Chains, this was purely an exercise in supplanting sales from independents to the Chains, effectively transferring QLD business profits and creation of jobs, to sending profits out of the state to Woolworths in Sydney and Coles in Melbourne and no creation of jobs. There is already a competitive abomination in Queensland, and that is the Chains can stock, promote and sell packaged liquor whilst the independent sector cannot. There is no competitive level playing field in Queensland at present. MGA and all Queensland members oppose the deregulation of trading hours!
QUEENSLAND
2020 Queensland State Election The 2020 Queensland state election was held on 31 October to elect all 93 members to the Legislative Assembly of Queensland. Labor won the election with Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk re-elected for a third term and has become the first woman party leader to win three state elections in Australia. At the time of writing 88% of the votes werecounted, and it was predicted that the ALP would win a majority 52 seats, the LNP 34 seats and independents seven seats. It was an unusual election influenced by a global pandemic, with the state’s borders and economy looming large and hundreds of thousands of Queenslanders voting early. mga.asn.au | December 2020 | Edition 8
QLD Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has unveiled the make-up of her third-term Cabinet, handing the reins of the environment portfolio to the youngest frontbencher in the state’s history. At the age of 27, Ms Meaghan Scanlon will become Minister for Environment, the Great Barrier Reef, Science and Youth Affairs. The Ministry shake-up has also seen former Small Business Minister Shannon Fentiman appointed to the role of Attorney-General and Di Farmer appointed as Small Business Minister. The diagram right, shows the new Ministry as it was announced.
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Smash and Grabs – Tobacco theft With the rise in cigarette prices we have seen a spike in “smash and grabs” by criminals causing expensive structural damage to supermarkets. That’s why it is vital to make sure your supermarket is properly covered by having a bespoke insurance package tailored to your business. “Smash and grabs” crime can interrupt your supermarket business and is a risk to take into consideration when selecting your policy package. Our insurance policy coverage includes theft cover which extends to cigarettes and liquor, burglary, property damage cover which extends to glass breakage as well as “smash and grabs”. Some risk management tips to prevent theft at your supermarket are:
• After hours remove tobacco from cabinets and store in a
safe type room
• Installation of roller shutters to entry points • Installation of a fog alarm • Cigarette cabinets installed with dual lockable bars and padlocks
• Installation of lockable floor bolts on roller doors • Installation of bollards Adroit Insurance & Risk Adroit’s Insurance & Risk’s skills, knowledge and experience make them the insurance Risk provider of choice for the Master Grocers Australia (MGA). If you would like to discuss any aspect of your supermarket insurance program, please contact our specialist supermarket risk advisers at Adroit Insurance & Risk on 1300 My Adroit for a free health check on your supermarket insurance program.
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Everything old is new again FoodWorks Tatura in country Victoria has reopened, launching a fresh new-looking FoodWorks. While everything is shiny and new, the opening was steeped in history, family and tradition. Thomas Flannagan built the original store in 1937, his daughter Patricia Warner, cut the ‘orange ribbon’ on opening day on 9 September 2020. “My father would’ve been thrilled to see this today,” Patricia said. The Reddrop family was equally happy to return to the town where founder Norm Reddrop worked in the grocery industry as a field representative more than 50 years ago. Chief Executive of the Reddrop Group, Michael Reddrop, said that like the previous owners, they are a family run company and their aim is always to be a part of the community, not just a business. The 1000sqm store had been closed for more than 12 months prior to the Reddrop Group coming to Tatura. “We were confident that the town needed another supermarket,” said Store Manager and area local Craig Bramley. “So far, so good. Customers and our support have been fantastic.” Once opened, the newly frocked Tatura FoodWorks team was enthusiastically welcomed by customers, neighbours, family and friends.
mga.asn.au | December 2020 | Edition 8
Patricia Warner daughter of the original store owner Thomas Flannagan, cuts the ‘opening ribbon’ applauded by Tina Reddrop, of the Reddrop Group.
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VICTORIA
Store Manager Craig Bramley (far left), with the newly frocked Tatura Foodworks team.
The Reddrop Group still stands by the philosphy set by founder Norm Reddrop that as a family run business their aim is to always serve the community.
According to Michael, continuing to improve the independent supermarket industry is a significant priority of the Group. “Whether you are an IGA or a Foodworks, we must do our best to keep independent supermarkets in business by improving our offer and position against the chains.” The purchase, refurbishment and opening of the 18th supermarket in the Reddrop Group couldn’t have come at the worst time. COVID, the lockdown, and the “ring of steel” created a very complicated situation for the revitalisation of the supermarket site. According to Michael, while COVID created an immense amount of building complications, it also galvanised the Group’s belief that local independent supermarkets play an essential role for looking after and servicing their communities. It makes the quote and picture of Norm Reddrop when entering the Tatura supermarket all the more poignant.
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34
INDUSTRY NEWS
SOUTH AUSTRALIA NATIONAL
First Supermarket in Australia to trial trolley sanitising system Sanitizit
Drakes Director JP Drake with the Sanitizit system at Drakes Fulham.
A Drakes shopper uses the Sanitizit system at Drakes Fulham.
The Sanitizit product has been developed in the US to sanitise shopping trolleys in retail, medical and airport environments. It works by providing a measured dose of santising solution, as a mist blanket, the covers the entire trolley as it is passed through the unit. SAGE Automation has partnered with the developer of the Sanitizit product to manufacture, supply and support the units in the Australian and New Zealand markets.
“We are proud to be supporting a local South Australian company with this innovative product” said Drake. The SanitizIT product brings benefits including:
“We have been working with SAGE Automation on the first Australian supermarket trial,” said Drakes director, John-Paul Drake. “Feedback from the team as well as our customers has been positive, and we will look at possibly rolling out into more of our stores.” Adrian Fahey, MD & CEO SAGE Group says, “We are delighted to be bringing this product to the Australian market and to have conducted a successful local market trial with iconic Australian Supermarket chain, Drakes. SAGE will be the exclusive manufacturer of the Sanitizit product in Australia from our advanced manufacturing centre at Tonsley in South Australia and will provide ongoing support nationally via our 14 state and regional office locations.” mga.asn.au | December 2020 | Edition 8
• Operational efficiency for the retailer, replacing the manual
process of wiping the trollies down by hand with a touchless system
• The dosage of sanitising solution can be adjusted for one trolley or a bank of trolleys being sanitised at a time
• Reduced waste by eliminating wipes being put into landfill • It sanitises the whole trolley, not just the handle • A hand-held wand enables the sanitising of shopping baskets from the main unit
• - The unit uses water based sanitising solution supplied by the unit operator
• The units are low voltage and use very little power
INDUSTRY NEWS
35
SOUTH AUSTRALIA NATIONAL
Foodland expands across South Australia Independent supermarket group’s A$215m five-year plan includes 25 new stores and refurbishment of existing stores South Australia’s largest independent supermarket chain, Foodland, has unveiled a five-year plan to open 25 new stores, revamp 47 of its existing stores – including 30 in regional locations - and create 2,500 new retail jobs in the state. The move equates to a A$215m investment in the state’s retail sector and is expected to create a further 500 construction jobs through the building of new supermarkets.
Foodland CEO, Franklin dos Santos.
“The supermarkets we’re starting to see - not only due to Covid-19 but also the shift in trends - is more of a market-style store,” dos Santos told The Advertiser.
Speaking to Adelaide’s The Advertiser, Foodland’s newly installed chief executive Franklin dos Santos would not confirm where the new stores would be located, but said negotiations were well advanced in securing a mix of metropolitan and regional sites across the state.
“Whether that’s ready-made meals, or what people have traditionally called gourmet becoming mainstream, shoppers have become more sophisticated and we’re at the forefront of that.
“We normally open an average of three to four stores a year but we’re accelerating that due to things like major infrastructure works, including the government’s investment in roads, and population movement around South Australia,” he said.
“We offer a different shopping experience to the chains; we’ve become a destination in local communities. If you look at stores like Frewville, Pasadena, Norwood - they offer a different type of ambience and ambience is king,” he added.
“It’s a huge investment in the state which will create thousands of jobs and shows there’s real belief that South Australia is a good state to do business in.
The launch of Foodland’s five-year growth plan coincides with the opening of a new A$80m distribution centre developed by the group’s supplier, Metcash.
“And importantly it’s going to mean that South Australian producers get a fair go in South Australia, which is what Foodland is famous for,” added dos Santos.
The state-of-the-art Gepps Cross facility started distributing perishable produce to Foodland stores across the state last week and will soon process other groceries for the network.
Foodland currently employs more than 6,000 staff across its 95 stores in South Australia. These stores are owned and operated by 35 independent groups including the Romeo, Chapley and Klose families.
“It means more frozen goods, more dairy and more perishables than we’ve ever had before,” explained dos Santos.
Dos Santos said the new and refurbished stores would draw inspiration from the success of award-winning stores located in Frewville and Pasadena. The Frewville store was named World’s Best Supermarket in 2016.
“It also provides another opportunity for South Australian producers to access our stores through the distribution centre supply chain mechanism and ensures the viability of stores for years to come.” source@ Produce Plus Magazine
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TRAINING
NATIONAL
Christmas, COVID-19, and the Summer Season Usually around this time from retail, hospitality, and other industries, everyone gears up to get ready for the busiest time of the year, at work and personally. With the majority of businesses recovering from the horrific bushfires earlier this year, backed up by a pandemic that continues to impact our daily lives, 2020 has not been the year we predicted or expected. Our New Year’s resolutions became the ghost of Christmas past. Now we are heading into the future and resuming somewhat to what is COVID-19 normal. We cannot lose focus on protecting ourselves, colleagues, and the community. The retail industry has been at the forefront of keeping communities and employees safe and will continue to do so. We need to remind ourselves of what is COVID-19 and how it spread. COVID-19 is a virus that spreads through respiratory droplets produced when an infected person coughs or sneezes. A person can acquire the virus by touching a surface or object that has the virus on it and then touching their own mouth, nose, or eyes. Some people can carry COVID-19 without even knowing it, some can suffer mild symptoms, and on others could have a devasting effect on the body. COVID-19 has been unpredictable and hard to contain. Its impact has been devasting as it affects every single person. A keyway to protect employees and others from the risk of exposure to COVID-19 is by practising good hygiene. Below are some suggestions to ensure good hygiene with the workplace.
mga.asn.au | December 2020 | Edition 8
Workplace Hygiene Be aware of areas that have interaction between employees, customers etc. Highlight these areas as ‘high risk’ and implement control measures to mitigate the risk. The areas could include;
» Common areas such as
restrooms, kitchens, and other common areas where employees and customers congregate
» High traffic areas where
customers and employees are together
» Visitor access » High touch surfaces such as
door handles throughout the workplace
» To enhance and maintain
workplace hygiene and its culture, its best to;
» Have a strict and regular cleaning schedule that cleans and sanitises these areas
» Have appropriate social distance rules in these areas and posters stating these
» Reduce the ‘traffic’ if possible, to do so
» Encourage personal hygiene to be the forefront of your employee’s thoughts when performing tasks (both workplace and personal)
» Reduce the sharing of items
or storage of items (i.e. cross confirmation). Example:
employees water bottles not to be stored closely in an area or touching
» Provide alcohol-based hand
sanitiser in appropriate locations
Personal Hygiene Personal hygiene is the key to reduce COVID-19, but also it is prevalent to food safety. Personal hygiene should be a policy and procedure that is instilled into the workplace culture. Hygiene policy must include topics such as:
Hand Washing • before commencing or recommencing work
• immediately after: » handling raw food » smoking, coughing, sneezing,
or blowing the nose- here have information about sneezing/ couching into the elbow
» eating or drinking » touching the hair, scalp, or any wound
» using the toilet » between tasks to avoid crosscontamination
Uniform policy Stating the expectations on the cleanliness of the uniform and presentation.
TRAINING
37
NATIONAL Personal presentation • Stating the expectations on
• hair, facial hair • Jewellery (big contributor to crosscontamination)
• Fingernails • Covering of wounds
Personal protection equipment Covering what is required when completing certain tasks, how to use and even how often- e.g. single-use glove.
Sick Leave and return to work policy To enhance the hygiene policy for both workplace in general, and personal, it is best to provide;
» processes to regularly monitor
and review the implementation of hygiene measures to ensure they are being followed and remain effective (part of the store WHS risk assessment policy)
» training employees in the policy
and procedure and ensuring they understand these.
» Placing posters throughout
the workplace to reinforce the message
» Ensure there are adequate and
accessible facilities to achieve good hygiene and that they are in good working order, are clean and safe.
» Washroom facilities must be
properly stocked and have adequate supplies of toilet paper, soap, water, and drying facilities (preferably single-use paper towels). They must also be kept clean and in good working order.
Another point to consider opening windows or adjusting air-conditioning for more ventilation in common areas and limiting or reducing recirculated air-conditioning where possible. However, on this point establishments must be careful not to impact on their Food Safety as this may invite pests such as flies having access to food stock.
Food Safety & Summer Another impact on employees and food safety is the months of summer. Summer is where all food handlers need to be even more vigilant than ever when handling food. A combination of hot temperatures, hazardous foods, new staff, overstocking fridges/freezers, the pressure of meeting customers’ expectations, keeping up speed, plus keeping COVID-19 safe– could result in non-compliance of the business with the food safety plan. This could lead to penalties, customer dissatisfaction and loss of business The main issue is the different types of pathogenic bacteria. Bacteria particularly loves summer months –it loves the warm temperature, the food it has on offer –all the right conditions for it to grow and thrive. Once the bacteria reach a certain level in the food, may result when consumed, cases of food poisoning. Council Chair of the Food Safety Information Council, Cathy Moir, said that “there are an estimated 4.1 million cases of food poisoning in Australia each year that result in 31,920 hospitalisations, 86 deaths and 1 million visits to doctors on average each year.” To ensure businesses and employees do not give bacteria ‘resort lifestyle living’- its best to follow the Food Safety plan and training all employees who are handling any types of food and utensils in Food Handling. Food Handling courses cover a range of topics including;
» Employee Hygiene » Receiving » Temperature » Time » Storage » Handling & Cross-Contamination » Removal of Waste » Product Recall By offering formalised training through online modules and combining it with hands-on training will assist not only the new staff but reaffirm requirements from the regular team. The end result will mean
mitigating any risks with food handling. Another strategy would be to have signage around regarding food safety that act as visual cues and reminders. MGA Industry Training offers different levels of food handling training to assist employers/employees the skills and knowledge when handling food. We also offer the accredited course of SITXFSA Use Hygienic practices for food. This is the level/introduction to food handling. Please go to our website www.mga.asn.au, and head to the Training page to find out further information on our Food Safety courses we have on offer as well as our RSA courses.
Merry Christmas from the Team at
MGA
Industry Training
38
TIMBER NEWS
NATIONAL
New series celebrating local family-run businesses Mitre 10 has launched a new grassroots marketing campaign to celebrate the real stories and people behind its stores.
The ‘Built by Families’ series uses documentary-style videos to bring to life the legacy of local family-run businesses and the unique connection each has to its local community. Karen Fahey, IHG’s General Manager of Marketing, said the series aims to invite consumers to understand what the Mitre 10 brand stands for. “We are so proud to tell the stories of the local and incredibly generous families in our network. The people within our stores are the real brand champions, and this is one way we can give them a voice. “Built by Families aims to demonstrate how family-owned businesses engage and support their communities. It invites Australian consumers into the lives of these families stirring emotions and building relatability. There’s nothing superficial or contrived about the stories. Just genuine tales told by authentic people in communities across Australia”, said Ms Fahey. The video series begins with three businesses – the Hitchins family in Moe VIC, the Hastings and Benton family in Diamond Creek VIC and, coming soon, the Johnson family in Mona Vale
mga.asn.au | December 2020 | Edition 8
NSW. Brand ambassador, Scott Cam, provides an introduction for the series. “Consumer trust and belief in our brand stem from generations of families delivering on a service and work ethic and fostering strong relationships with their customers – the very trademark of locally-owned, family-run business. The generational knowledge and expertise contained within these families is priceless and cannot be replicated. These three stories are saying it’s not just product on the shelf in our stores…it’s the people who work there, their values and the small things they do that make their communities better. “The spirit of Mitre 10 lingers on in towns long after the lights go out and the store is shut. We encourage consumers to think differently about the people behind their local hardware store and listen to their stories. When you shop with locals, you’ll not only have a more enriching experience; you’ll invest in the health of that community. The campaign will be executed through multiple channels, including a dedicated ‘Built by Families’ website, TV advertising spots during The Block and social media. Visit www.mitre10. com.au/families for more details.
TIMBER NEWS
39
NATIONAL
Timber products can be used in bushfire-prone areas With the devastating results of the recent bushfires top-of-mind for many Australians, thoughts turn to designing and building to minimise the potential risk of damage to homes in areas that may be affected by bushfires in the future. While some people may say that building a bushfire resisting structure precludes the use of wood and wood products, this is not the case. With the devastating results of the recent bushfires top-of-mind for many Australians, thoughts turn to designing and building to minimise the potential risk of damage to homes in areas that may be affected by bushfires in the future. While some people may say that building a bushfire resisting structure precludes the use of wood and wood products, this is not the case. There is a Technical Design Guide available for building in bushfire-prone areas as well as a Bushfire Attack Level (BAL) calculator that allows people to estimate the BAL of their site, developed by WoodSolutions, that can be used by people seeking answers to their bushfire design-related questions. “Timber framing and wood products in other applications for residential construction in BAL classified locations may be used, subject to the requirements of Australian Standard AS 3959 Construction of buildings in bushfire-prone areas,” explained Boris Iskra, a structural engineer with additional fire qualifications, who is the National Codes and Standards Manager at FWPA. Developed and refined over many years, the Australian Standard (AS 3959 Construction of buildings in
bushfire-prone areas) reflects the latest in building and materials science, technology and systems. The Standard is a consensus-based document and is referenced by the Building Code of Australia.
A key requirement of the Standard is to limit the size of gaps to reduce the potential entry of burning embers as well as to protect the occupants and building from the effects of radiant heat from a bushfire.
Designing to ‘build out’ the effects of bushfires, the requirements of the Standard seek to minimise the risk to the home from ember, radiant heat and even flame contact that occurs in the most extreme bushfire-locations. With appropriate design decisions, attractive timber homes can be built using sustainably sourced wood and wood products both inside and out.
There are free industry resources available that include the comprehensive design guide, Building with Timber in Bushfire-prone Areas, as well as the BAL Bushfire Calculator V2.1 that allows people to estimate the BAL of their site and an expert advice service through which people can seek answers to their bushfire design-related questions. Source | MGA TMA Technical Advisory
Bushfire Attack Levels (BAL) are calculated to assess the degree of risk of bushfire attack of an individual building site. There are six BAL classifications, and each has specific construction requirements relating to the materials that may be used, and how they are used, in residential construction. Timber can be used for house framing and all interior applications, including flooring, skirting, architraves and cabinetry in all BALs. “Understanding what is required for each BAL is actually quite straightforward,” said Iskra.
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TIMBER NEWS
NATIONAL
Timber Framing – renewing our future There is also real currency with the campaign messages and recent events for Australian communities and businesses impacted by the devastating bushfires. Trusted for centuries, sustainably sourced timber framing is the ultimate renewable building material. “Timber is the only building material that helps tackle climate change” As the category leader in structural building material for Australian homes, timber framing is often taken for granted in terms of its proven and preferred status. It’s a key product category for every timber merchant but in the past has lacked specific branding support for stockists on its many benefits to promote to their customers - builders, tradies and even DIYers. Australia’s softwood sawmilling sector working through AFPA (Australian Forest Products Association) recently launched a new messaging campaign to reinforce and promote the benefits of timber framing.
Here are a few key points to consider in “renewing our future” as Australians as we deal with the bushfire impacts:
• The rebuild and restoration of buildings in impacted areas should consider the benefits of timber framing –carbon storage and low embodied energy are positive for climate change.
• Regulations for bush fire prone buildings will undoubtedly be
discussed, and the key point here is that although no building is fire-proof, they are designed and built to regulations rightly focussed on people’s safety.
Many of MGA TMA members have businesses in the regional communities impacted by the fires. In rebuilding these fire-affected communities, giving a preference to locally sourced timber products helps these communities recover sooner, ensuring job security and protecting economic and community wellbeing – renewing our future.
The Ultimate Renewal campaign continues to gather momentum, fronted by Peter Maddison from Grand Designs Australia fame and endorsed by Planet Ark.
The Independent Retailer magazine is proudly printed in Australia, supporting local jobs and industry Dynamite Printing, have a very
They recycle all paper and board waste
mode on their computers, have
Stock Accreditiation:
strict environmental policy. The
in the production area and in their
switched to low energy light bulbs
The stock is made from elemental
printing inks used within their
offices. They use aluminium plates in
which are fully recyclable and have
chlorine free bleached pulp sourced
manufacturing processes are
the printing process and they recycle
automatic sensors installed in their
from well-managed forests and
vegetable based inks. These inks
all metal printing plates after use.
production area that will automatically
controlled sources. It is manufactured
switch off the lighting when the natural
by an ISO 14001 certified mill.
are ISO compliant and comply with all international standards. The
Their stock preferences are for
use of these inks minimizes the
recycled or partially recycled in
need to use volatile solvents. As a
content. They have supply agreements
They are an environmentally
result, they use low solvent VOC for
with all major paper suppliers in
aware printer. Consideration of the
EMS (Environmental Management Systems)
blanket wash. All of their presses
Australia and have access to an
environmental impact their supplies
ISO Certified
are 100% alcohol free. This is not
extensive range of recycled stocks. All
and stocks have is fundamental to
easily achieved and Dynamite is
of their non-recycled stock come from
their operation. The long term viability
a leader in this regard. They have
sustainable plantations.
of the printing industry is of interest
operated completely alcohol free
Electricity usage is continually
to Dynamite and it’s employees.
(not alcohol reduced) for over 10
monitored and they realize that
They actively encourage their staff to
years now and are very proud of
this is a large part of their resource
become involved in the environmental
this fact.
consumption. They utilize energy saver
policies they operate under.
mga.asn.au | December 2020 | Edition 8
lights is above a certain threshold.
FSC Mix Certified Elemental Chlorine Free Pulp
MGA TMA are proud to work with:
LIQUOR NEWS
41
NATIONAL
Senate Select Committee Inquiry on Tobacco Harm Reduction
On 6 October 2020, the Senate resolved to establish a Select Committee on Tobacco Harm Reduction and called for submissions from Key Stakeholders and Industry and planned to report back on its findings by 18 December 2020. The committee will inquire into tobacco reduction strategies, with reference to: 1. the treatment of nicotine vaping products (electronic cigarettes and smokeless tobacco) in developed countries similar to Australia (such as the United Kingdom, New Zealand, the European Union and the United States), including but not limited to legislative and regulatory frameworks; 2. the impact nicotine vaping products have had on smoking rates in these countries and the aggregate population health impacts of these changes in nicotine consumption. 3. the established evidence on the effectiveness of e-cigarettes as a
smoking cessation treatment. 4. the established evidence on the uptake of e-cigarettes amongst nonsmokers and the potential gateway effect onto traditional tobacco products. 5. evidence of the impact of legalising nicotine vaping products on youth smoking and vaping rates and measures that Australia could adopt to minimise youth smoking and vaping. 6. access to e-cigarette products under Australia’s current regulatory frameworks. 7. tobacco industry involvement in the selling and marketing of e-cigarettes; and 8. any other related matter. MGA made a submission on behalf of its members focusing primarily on reference item (f) from the terms of reference and strongly recommends that Australia keeps in line with the US, New Zealand, Canada, and the United Kingdom where vaping
products are legally sold and allow the Australian traditional retailers of tobacco products to sell nicotine vaping products. MGA disagreed with the prescription model proposed by The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA). This discriminates against the current sellers of tobacco products and makes no sense for consumers seeking an alternative to smoking to have to obtain a vaping prescription from their GP. Then have the prescription filled at a pharmacy who operate on restricted trading hours, making the whole process too expensive and inconvenient for people and potentially driving them to purchase vaping products through the black market or online sales. The full report can be read by logging onto the members’ website www. mga.asn.au. MGA will keep members updated on the Senate Inquiry findings once they have been publicly released.
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LIQUOR NEWS
TASMANIA NATIONAL
T21 Legislation still on Tasmanian Governments Radar Since the Public Health Amendment Bill 2019 was tabled by the Hon Ivan Dean MLC in 2018 which proposed to make several changes in relation to smoking laws in Tasmania to lifting the legal smoking age to 21 years of age. The Minderoo Foundation, which fully funded the twoyear research project by the Menzies Institute for Medical Research to analyse and report on the prevalence of smoking in Tasmania raises concerns about the independence of the work undertaken. The research for the report was sourced from four areas, 1) Secondary analysis of existing data sources, 2) Youth online survey, 3) Stakeholder Survey, 4) Stakeholder and young people interviews and can be viewed in full on the MGA Members website www.mga.asn.au. MGA believes that the key findings of the report did not place enough emphasis on how to address access to online tobacco sales or the negative economic impact on Tasmanian tobacco retailers.
All the evidence shows that under-age children get their tobacco from sources such as family, older friends, or the black market. Raising the legal age at which cigarettes can be bought will not reduce smoking rates but will simply transfer sales from small business and retailers to the black market which according to the 2019 KPMG Report on illicit Tobacco in Australia has cost government in excess of $3.4 billion in lost excise tax. MGA and its members want to find ways to reduce smoking rates and strongly encourage MLC Ivan Dean to work with industry to introduce any changes to the current Legislation that will work.
VICTORIA
Overseas licences now accepted as evidence of age International drivers’ licences and Victorian marine licenses can now be accepted as evidence of age documents by licensed venues.
those who have a marine licence but not a driver licence will no longer be required to carry multiple forms of identification. What is acceptable evidence of age?
The Victorian Government is cutting red tape by allowing overseas drivers licences to be used as proof of age for entry into licensed venues. The changes will bring Victoria’s laws in line with other Australian states and territories. Any licences in a language other than English will need to be accompanied by an English translation or International Drivers Permit, which can be easily downloaded online.
• Australian driver licence (including NSW & SA digital drivers licence)
• Victorian learner permit • Foreign driver licence in the English language or if not in the
English language must be accompanied by an official English translation or an International Driving Permit
• Victorian proof of age card or an equivalent from another state or territory of Australia
Previously, those who held overseas driver licences were required to use their passport as a form of identification to enter licensed venues. Anyone who possesses a marine licence can also use this as a proof of age document for entry into a licensed venue, meaning
mga.asn.au | December2020 | Edition 8
• Keypass card (including digital keypass ) • Australian or foreign passport • Victorian marine licence
LIQUOR NEWS
43
VICTORIA NATIONAL
Introduction of Victorian Container Deposit Scheme Victoria is the last mainland state to introduce a container deposit scheme (CDS) and which is set to commence in 2023. Government consultation opened on 2 November 2020 and MGA will be making a submission on behalf of members. MGA will keep Victorian members updated via their regular email Checkout newsletter or if action is required via the e-alert notifications. Under the proposed governance model responsibilities will be assigned to the appropriate parties to provide oversight and management of the scheme. As with all existing Australian schemes, participation is ensured through the requirement for beverage suppliers to have eligible containers for sale approved by the government. Laws require the costs of Australian schemes to be paid by beverage suppliers, and those costs may be passed on to consumers in beverage prices. Victoria has considered scheme structures across all Australian jurisdictions and has also considered international examples, including how closely they align with Victoria’s objectives. In a typical CDS, the scheme governance framework consists of:
• Scheme administration: the form of the organisation
that manages the CDS. A scheme coordinator could be a government, business or not for profit organisation.
• Scheme structure: the configuration of responsibilities held by organisations to deliver the scheme. The government will appoint one or more organisations to manage and operate the scheme and its collection network.
The CDS network would include a variety of collection points – such as automated reverse vending machines in public places, drive through depots, over the counter in shops and pop up collection points at events and festivals. MGA will ensure that there is equal opportunity for members to apply for placement of the Reverse Vending Machine as they become available. That an appropriate point of sale is available for instore placement alerting customers of the schemes cost increase impact on CDS applicable products.
Should you have any queries, please contact the MGA national support office on free call 1800 888 479 or the Victorian Government Container Deposit site https://www. vic.gov.au/container-deposit-scheme Everyone who met with Dean was touched by his warm, welcoming smile and positive, friendly spirit; he will be missed by all who knew him.
Vale Dean White MGA is saddened to advise members and industry friends that on Tuesday, 10 November 2020, after a very short illness, the liquor industry lost one of its most popular and respected members, Dean White.
Dean for many years was a strong supporter of the independent sector and a generous supporter of GALA. Through his position as National Account Executive Independents at Brown
Brothers, no request in support of GALA was ever refused.
Dean was a dedicated and loving family man, and our condolences go out to his wife Mel and their three daughters Aria, Asha and Ayla and extended family.
44
CORPORATE PARTNER ADVERTISING
NATIONAL
Old No15 Bourbon and Cola supporting the Independent Liquor Retailer first Old No15 Bourbon is a true Kentucky Bourbon rested in charred Oak barrels in Kentucky before making the journey from the USA to Australia where it is blended to deliver a full bodied well-balanced and smooth Bourbon. Old No15 Bourbon is so named because Kentucky was the 15th state admitted to the Union in 1792 and has since gained a reputation for crafting some of the world’s finest Bourbons. Bourbon and Cola has long been the leader in the RTD category in Australia and as such is used to drive foot traffic into stores. It is the weapon of choice on the battleground of many large retail banners each competing for their share of a growing market. Now the Independent liquor retail sector has a brand they can call their own. Edgemill Group is proud to offer our fine Old No15 Bourbon and Cola to our Independent liquor retail partners exclusively to assist them to provide their customers with a unique offer that represents exceptional value and the highest quality. Edgemill Group has blended Old No15 Bourbon and Cola to deliver a spritzy carbonation with a cola sweetness that does not detract from the smooth and well-balanced flavour born from old Kentucky know-how, the charred oak barrels and the unique blend that Old No15 Bourbon drinkers know and love. mga.asn.au | December 2020 | Edition 8
Edgemill Group remain committed to supporting our independent liquor retail partners for as long as they remain committed to Edgemill Group. This symbiotic relationship is the foundation stone that Edgemill was built on and we hope it remains long into the future. Old No15 Bourbon and Cola is available in 375ml 4packs in either 6% or 9% ABV variants. Old No15 Bourbon and Cola is now available at all good Independent liquor retailers nationwide.
CORPORATE PARTNER ADVERTISING
45
NATIONAL
Saving your business on debit transaction costs. When it comes to business, even the smallest things can help. Like lowering your debit transaction costs. Find out more about least cost routing today.
Least cost routing Learn more at eftposaustralia.com.au/lcr Š2020 eftpos Payments Australia Limited. All Rights Reserved.
46
INDUSTRY NEWS
NATIONAL
Coca-Cola Europe looking to acquire Coca-Cola Amatil It has been reported that Coca-Cola European Partners, the largest independent bottler of Coke, is in talks to acquire Coca-Cola Amatil to expand in the Asia-Pacific region. . Negotiations between the European and Australian bottlers are advanced Details, including the structure of the deal, were still being finalised and talks could yet fall apart. Coca-Cola Amatil has a market value of about $7.8 billion. Whilst the UK-based Coca-Cola European Partners has a market value of about $US17.7 billion ($24.8 billion).
mga.asn.au | December 2020 | Edition 8
Coca-Cola Amatil is a dominant player in the Asia-Pacific region, with 32 production facilities in Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, The talks underscore how soft drink bottlers are under pressure to consolidate as the popularity of sugary drinks declines, as well as disruptions caused by the coronavirus pandemic. CocaCola European Partners decided early this year to halt its share buyback program and defer a dividend to preserve cash.
INDUSTRY NEWS
47
NATIONAL
www.golocalfirst.com.au
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LIQUOR NEWS
mga.asn.au | December2020 | Edition 8