TALKING SHOP
Australia’s grocery giants are at it again. The Australian ($) reports Woolworths has vowed to investigate complaints some of its suppliers have been slapped with “unauthorised deductions” from payments. The complaints were made to the government’s independent reviewer of a voluntary code of conduct that governs the relationship between the food and grocery manufacturing sector and the big supermarket chains — Woolworths, Coles, Aldi — and wholesaler Metcash.
Reportedly, all the major supermarket chains have been accused of unauthorised deductions from invoices. But Woolies was first to promise to look into it. “We will fix it,” chief executive Brad Banducci told The Australian.
Meanwhile, Guardian Australia reports peak health bodies are concerned by Woolworths’ offer of free 15-minute phone calls with naturopaths through its HealthyLife subsidiary. “Naturopathy is an alternative practice based on the premise that diseases can be successfully treated or prevented without reliance on conventional medicine,” the story says.
Consumers Health Forum chief executive Elizabeth Deveny said she worried “people, because of cost-of-living pressures and wait times, might seek advice from somebody who’s not their regular GP, who maybe is not the best person to manage or treat their condition”. But a HealthyLife spokesperson told the outlet the “discovery calls” were meant to be merely an “introduction to a naturopath” rather than “a full clinical consultation”.
It comes just days after both Coles and Woolworths raised eyebrows with reports of annual profits in excess of $1 billion each. Some punters might have felt that was a bit much, given the cost-of-living crisis many are facing. Centre for Future Work director Jim Stanford told Nine News the profits “absolutely” have come at the expense of consumers. “There’s no doubt supermarkets have profited from this inflation even as Australians struggle to put food on the table,” Stanford said.
PRESSING FOR INFORMATION
The Senate will begin hearings today on Australia’s freedom of information (FOI) regime — the legislation that allows the public access to documents from government agencies. It’s a crucial tool for journalists, crossbench politicians and members of the public seeking to hold the powerful to account. But as the news media professional standards body Press Council wrote in its submission to the inquiry, the system isn’t working as intended. Problems include “systemic delays in processing, failures of agencies to assist with applications and poor decision-making [as well as] government resistance to legitimate FOI requests”.
Press Council chief executive Yvette Lamont will be first to give evidence, at 9am, alongside representatives for Country Press Australia, the ABC and Australia’s Right to Know Coalition. The inquiry will be a must-follow for Australians interested in press freedom. Crikey has made a submission to the inquiry as well, in which editor-in-chief Sophie Black and editor Gina Rushton argued information is a “national resource” that should be “returned to the people”.
We even put together a whole series of articles on FOI, called “Redacted” — it’s well worth a read if you want to catch up to speed.
Anton Nilsson here reporting for Worm duty again — as Emma Elsworthy noted in her last edition, she’ll be off for a fortnight and I’ll be filling in (and of course, she is my favourite, too). If you have any tips or comments, feel free to reach me at anilsson@crikey.com.au.
SAY WHAT?
He was a man of difficult fate, and he made serious mistakes in life, and he achieved the results needed both for himself and when I asked him about it — for a common cause, as in these last months.
Vladimir Putin
Russia’s leader was cryptic when he made his first public comments on Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin after the militant’s death in a plane crash last week. Was it an artful dodge of details by Putin — who many, including US President Joe Biden, suspect had a hand in the incident — or just word salad? You be the judge. Either way, Russian authorities confirmed yesterday Prigozhin did indeed die in the crash. The conclusion was reached after genetic testing on the 10 bodies recovered at the crash site halfway between Moscow and St Petersburg, “putting to rest any doubts about whether the wily mercenary leader turned mutineer was on [the] plane that crashed”, the AP reported.
CRIKEY RECAP
“The implicit question at the heart of every intergenerational report has always been: ‘How will we care for older generations in the future?’ This hasn’t changed, and won’t for as long as the older demographic remains a key battleground in the fortunes of the major political parties.
“The whole ‘intergenerational’ exercise is a rhetorical device to reframe serious concerns about Australia’s future into questions about sustainable levels of wealth and welfare for (not all) boomers. (Hint: there’s no such thing as too much financial security.)
“Nevertheless, it’s hard to think of a more hypocritical time in Australian politics than the present. As Treasurer Jim Chalmers addressed the media this week about the 2023 intergenerational report, he evinced concern for the economic impact of the climate crisis, noting that it could total up to $423 billion over the next 40 years.”
“An Australian climate group has come up with an audacious scheme to trick social media algorithms into showing accurate scientific information to climate denialists using an unlikely weapon: a cookie recipe.
“The Australian Youth Climate Coalition (AYCC)’s NewsJacker campaign has been created to help young Australians persuade people in their lives who deny the science of man-made climate change.
“Identifying the role of poor-quality climate news and misinformation that’s rife online as a key problem in promoting denialism, the NewsJacker campaign attempts to wrest back control of social media algorithms and advertising technology and use them to promote high-quality science content.”
READ ALL ABOUT IT
Donald Trump’s drumbeat of lies about the 2020 election keeps getting louder. Here are the facts (Associated Press)
Italian banker hailed a hero after catching toddler falling from fifth floor balcony (CNN)
Romania to bolster Ukraine export corridor despite Russian attacks (Financial Times)
Family of former British PM apologises for links to slavery (Al Jazeera)
Emmerson ‘Crocodile’ Mnangagwa wins second term as Zimbabwe president (BBC)
White Florida shooter who killed three Black victims bought guns legally (Reuters)
THE COMMENTARIAT
Why being up when people are asleep is like a secret garden — Maddie Thomas (Guardian Australia): “The quibble between early birds and night owls is a long-fought battle. Some say those who stay up late are at greater risk of death, while morning people are often teased for claiming they can wake up naturally at 6am. But being up when most people are asleep is like having a secret garden that you can visit each day.
“I never used to be a morning person. As a teenager, you’re not meant to be. School-aged children are woken by alarm clocks, or parents knocking gingerly on the door (the first time), or shaking you awake to get up and dressed (the third or fourth time). Sundays were spent mostly in my pyjamas if I could, often while my parents hastened outside to get coffee — a reason to leave the house that now, as an adult, I finally understand.”
How to make sense of treasury’s latest intergenerational report — Ross Gittins (SMH) ($): “Our sixth intergenerational report envisages an Australia of fewer young people and more elderly, with slower improvement in living standards, climate change causing economic and social upheaval, aged and disability care becoming our fastest-growing industry, and home ownership declining, while we spend more defending ourselves from the threat of a rising China, real or imagined.
“That does sound like fun, but remember this: just as I hope many of the predictions I make will be self-defeating prophecies — because people act to ensure they don’t happen — so it is with treasury’s regular intergenerational reports.”
Too often employers build empires on the back of worker exploitation. It’s a sad indictment of our system — Adele Ferguson (ABC): “Whether it is wage theft, outdated enterprise agreements, or traineeships subsidised by the government, an ominous cloud has hung over the country’s labour force for years.
“In some cases, worker underpayment has been blamed on a payroll error or failures in administration. In recent years, it has embroiled some of the country’s most well-known organisations, including Woolworths, Qantas and the ABC, to name a few.
“But in too many cases, employers have been allowed to build empires on the backs of worker exploitation. Some organisations are mercilessly exploiting some of the country’s most vulnerable workers.”
