Industry News

The Australian  Why the old cocktail hour is far from the most effective way to facilitate networking at business events.Many of us stifle an internal groan when attending a conference and the facilitator divides us up so we can do some group activities. But as much as we might prefer to listen and keep to ourselves, research shows that shared experiences can help form strong and lasting connections and make learning more effective. Social psychologist and associate professor of management at the Melbourne Business School Jen Overbeck says creating stronger bonds and boosting learning with shared experiences taps into a phenomenon known as synchrony. Research shows that when people do the same things – such as marching in lockstep or even sitting at a table and tapping the same rhythm on a paper cup – they then subconsciously align other aspects of their behaviour to the people with whom they…

News A 15-year-old boy was left fighting for his life after becoming addicted to vaping donut flavoured e-liquid. Zane Martin was taken in an ambulance to the intensive care unit in Loma Linda, California, where he was placed into a medically induced coma.  Doctors said that he’d become unable to breathe as a result of months of vaping.  When he eventually came to, he told reporters that he’d started off vaping with his friends down at a local skate park that they hang out at, but eventually became addicted to it as a result of the wide range of flavours available, of which his absolute favourite was donut.  He was in the Loma Linda Children’s Hospital for around a month, spending three weeks of those in the ICU. Zane told ABC 7: “I liked how it tastes. It tastes like donuts, but no more. It’s really bad for you.” It…

Eliza Barr, St George Shire Standard November 6, 2019 DAILYTELEGRAPH.COM.AU A 16-year-old boy was used in a sting when public health officers busted a Sydney tobacconist selling e-cigarettes and fruity flavoured e-liquids to children. Public health officers used a 16-year-old boy as an undercover pawn to bust a Sydney tobacconist selling e-cigarettes to children. The South East Sydney Public Health Unit began investigating Cignall Miranda tobacconist Jin Long Wang, 58, after he sold an e-cigarette and strawberry, mango and grape-flavoured e-liquids worth $163 in total to a 14-year-old boy on March 30 this year. “Some time after this his parents discovered the purchases and his father contacted the SESPHU to make a complaint and arranged for his son to hand over the e-cigarette items to investigators,” court documents stated. On June 18 environmental health officers from SESPHU used a 16-year-old boy to conduct tobacco compliance testing at Wang’s established business…

Jeff Rogut CEO AACS The Australasian Association of Convenience Stores (AACS) is the champion of the convenience industry and in 2020 we celebrate our 30th anniversary. We have a long history serving retailers and suppliers; we’ve witnessed seismic changes, game-changing innovations, shifts in consumer behaviour, new regulations and much more. As we highlighted some years ago when we produced our ‘AACS Convenience 2020’ report important elements to success remain collaboration, innovation and differentiation. As we look ahead to the new year and new decade, our path is clear: we’re focused on helping you understand where we are, where we’re going and how we’ll get there. Our vision is 20-20….and beyond. Convenience in Australia: Where we are Our industry is dynamic and as lines between retailers increasingly blur, new competitors emerge and trading conditions present new challenges, the fast-paced evolution which defines convenience will only speed up more. By virtue of…

The sale of its non-branch machines to Prosegur move as politicians and regulators intensify their scrutiny of ATM access in regional areas. James EyersSenior Reporter Nov 7, 2019 AFR Share Westpac Banking Group says the sale of its non-branch automatic teller machine fleet to Prosegur Australia may be the catalyst for the creation of a new utility to allow banks to share the rising costs of distributing the shrinking amount of cash used to buy and sell goods and services. The move comes as politicians and regulators intensify their scrutiny of ATM access in regional areas. Prosegur’s national strategy manager, Matt Sykes, confirmed the deal with Westpac is the “first step to create an ATM utility”. “As the numbers of ATMs go down, we have identified some service gaps that are problematic, and over time the aim is to increase coverage and provide more access to ATMs for the Australian…

EWIN HANNANNOVEMBER 6, 2019 The Australian  Attorney-General Christian Porter has put corporate Australia on notice over the underpayment of workers, saying the directors of companies that fail to pay workers properly could be banned from ­sitting on boards. Declaring that “corporate Australia has been asleep at the wheel” when it came to ensuring workers were paid correctly, Mr Porter ­revealed the Coalition would consider empowering the Fair Work Ombudsman to pursue banning order applications against directors of underpaying companies. “I suspect the only way you will get board directors who sit on boards and get 180 grand a year for 12 meetings to take this stuff seriously is if there is something on the line for them,’’ Mr Porter told The Australian. Mr Porter, also the Industrial Relations Minister, expressed support for an ACTU proposal ­allowing individual workers to go to the commission to have underpayment claims dealt with quickly and…