Industry News

AAP July 24, 2012 HEALTH care products are the brands most trusted by Australian consumers, a survey has found. The Australian Reader’s Digest released the results on Tuesday of a survey it commissioned that asked more than 2,400 Aussies which products they placed the most trust in. The top ten was dominated by health care and first aid products, with breakfast cereal and chocolate rounding out the list. Dettol topped the list, with Band-Aid and Panadol second and third. Chocolate maker Cadbury came in fourth, but dentists need not worry as oral hygiene supremo Colgate came in right behind at number five. Another health-care product, Elastoplast, is sixth on the list. Hardware giant Bunnings was voted number one in the ‘Australian Icon’ category, beating Vegemite and Dick Smith. Australian Reader’s Digest editor Sue Carney said brands that continued to offer quality and substance were the most trusted. “They have a…

Simon Canning and Nicolas Perpitch July 25, 2012 The Australian FAST-FOOD outlets are quickly becoming the measure of Australia’s two-speed economy as consumers demand value meals as comfort food. Stretched by mortgage repayments and an economy they don’t entirely trust, consumers are keeping their wallets closed and instead treating themselves with the coins lingering in their pockets. Yesterday McDonald’s reacted to a slowdown in sales with a menu aimed straight at the frugal consumer, saying it would grow its value offerings with burgers and fries priced at as little as $1 or $2. The strategy was a major reason for the company’s turnaround in the US, where the adoption of value meals helped to lift sales and profits four years ago. Australia bagged a rare mention by McDonald’s executives when the company announced its global results and a 4.5 per cent drop in earnings. Newly appointed chief executive Donald Thompson…

Samantha Gross July 25, 2012 AP THE fizz is frothing in New York as the mayor considers limits on ‘super-sized’ sugary drinks in a desperate bid to put a lid on obesity. Soft drink and restaurant industries are bottling the mayor’s proposed ban and an effervescent public is lining up to have its say. Since Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s put forward his proposal, opponents have accused him of trying to institute a “nanny state” with government controls that infringe on individual choice. City officials, meanwhile, argue they are trying to save lives in the face of an obesity epidemic that is killing New Yorkers and costing the health budget $4 billion a year. “This year an estimated 5,800 New Yorkers will die because they are obese or overweight,” Bloomberg said Monday. But more than 100 people gathered this week on the steps of City Hall to protest, many wearing T-shirts that…

July 25, 2012 The Canberra Times The contrast could not be more stark between Coles’ gleaming new supermarket in Gungahlin, the biggest of its kind in Australia, which opens today, and the forlorn aisles of Scullin’s handimart in neighbouring Belconnen. The ACT government’s supermarket policy has failed to slow the Woolworths and Coles battle for market share, which is most intense in the territory. Coles’ expanded offering has the biggest gross leasable area in Australia and 4766 square metres of selling area, overshadowing Australia’s biggest Woolworths supermarket at Majura Park, which has about 4000 square metres of selling area. The battling Scullin supermarket, which has a mere 1400 square metres, is the latest local centre to receive a $1.12 million, government-funded makeover. After opening a pergola, seating, new lighting and toilets yesterday, Member for Ginninderra Chris Bourke said the upgrade would help attract new tenants to occupy some of the…

AAP July 25, 2012 TRUCK drivers are rallying outside Coles stores across the country calling for the retailer to be held to account for pressuring truckies and causing accidents. Around 20 Transport Workers Union (TWU) members have gathered outside a store on Sydney’s George Street chanting anti-Coles slogans as part of a national day of action by truckies against the retailer. The protesters say Coles is using its market power to squeeze suppliers including truck drivers, driving down conditions and safety standards. They say some owner-drivers in the Coles supply chain are working for as little as $8.60 per hour. TWU National Secretary Tony Sheldon told the rally Coles was putting pressure on truck drivers “every day of the week”. “We see 5300 people seriously injured in truck incidents each year and 330 people killed in trucking incidents,” he said. “A third of all those truck incidents are involving products…

Michael Pascoe July 25, 2012 The Age ·The debate of Australia’s sugar consumption is heating up. ·Rory Robertson’s bets are getting bigger. ·Having successfully wagered Doomsday forecaster Steve Keen a walk to Mt Kosciuszko over Australian house prices not crashing during the GFC, he’s punting $40,000 that Big Sugar’s favourite academic paper is wrong. For hounding Peter Costello over being Australia’s biggest taxing Treasurer, Robertson once was described favourably by Ross Gittins as “that pesky Mr Robertson” delving deep into the statistics to prove his case against Costello’s protestations. Robertson is proving at least as pesky in his passion for questioning Australia’s fondness of sugar. Taxation or sugar consumption, it’s all a matter of understanding what statistics are credible to an economist, albeit one with a personal belief that sugar is a sweet poison. What makes a sucrose fixation a business story is the size of the Australian sugar and…