CEO Welcome

Welcome to our final Independent Retailer Magazine for 2022.

This will be my final welcome to you.

After sixteen amazing years at the helm of Master Grocers Australia (MGA), I am retiring Jos de Bruin from my role as Chief Executive Officer effective as of 16 October 2022. It gives me great pleasure to announce the appointment of David Inall as our new Chief Executive Officer who commenced in the role on 10 October 2022. David has thirty years’ senior experience providing strategic and operational direction within the NFP sector. With extensive global experience in political advocacy and policy development for primary industry, David comes into the role after five years as CEO of Australian Dairy Farmers. David is a dedicated supporter and advocate for family and private businesses and is keen and enthusiastic to meet members and industry stakeholders. Between now and my final day, my role is to help David transition into the CEO role as quickly and as smoothly as possible, so MGA business continues seamlessly, assisting members and that the momentum on advocacy and industry representation matters does not slow down. Please join me in warmly welcoming David.

Annual Report 2022

The Annual Report, sent to members recently, highlights the significant work MGA has done over the last financial year. The last financial year was divided into two parts: - the COVID-19 Pandemic and the post Pandemic periods. It has been our pleasure as a close knit and dedicated team to serve members for another big year.

The past six months have been extremely busy for the MGA team whether it be involvement with Federal advocacy matters such as, COVID-19 pandemic business recovery, IR reform, severe labour shortages, Jobs Summit, competition matters, Illicit tobacco, least cost routing, introducing ourselves to the new Government and a plethora of State matters including post COVID pandemic recovery business forums, liquor, planning and zoning issues, single use plastic item bans, trading hours and sustainability education.

Industrial relations demand from members for support and services has escalated exponentially with many IR matters raised being more complex and more time consuming. Our Employment Law team has experienced unprecedented workloads in coping with escalated demand and continues to speedily attend to member’s needs.

Inside this edition are stories about members and their stores as well as a belated congratulations to all the winners of the IGA Retailer of the Year Awards and Hall of Fame induction held on the Gold Coast at the Metcash Expo back in July 2022.

MGA continues to engage with a breadth of industry stakeholders across the food and grocery, liquor, and timber hardware sectors, particularly focusing on safeguarding members from exposure to any red tape and cost burdens that “get in the way” of doing business.

MGA’s AGM was held at Leonda Receptions in Hawthorn Victoria on Friday 25 November commencing at 7.00am. Guest speakers included ACCC Chair Gina Cass Gottlieb and Metcash Group CEO Doug Jones.

This event was the first face to face AGM in three years and was a unique opportunity to celebrate our members who have come out of this pandemic as strong and relevant business hubs within their communities after what has been a tough and challenging 2.5 years of COVID-19 pandemic restrictions.

We wish our members a robust and profitable trading period leading up to Christmas 2023.

Jos de Bruin Retiring CEO MGA Independent Retailers

David Inall

It gives me great pleasure and an enormous honour to present my first CEO Welcome for Master Grocers Australia Ltd (MGA).

First and foremost, I would like to congratulate Jos de Bruin for sixteen successful years in this role. His contribution to the independent retail sector is second-to-none, with a long list of achievements for both the organisation and the industry more widely. I would personally like to thank Jos for setting this organisation up for success as we head into 2023.