Press Releases

Australia’s best servo has been named at the Australian Association of Convenience Stores 2024 Gala awards, with APCO Alfredton in Ballarat, Victoria, taking out the prestigious award. The 24/7 service station was awarded Overall Store of the Year at the AACS Gala, while also being crowned Independent Store of the Year. AACS CEO Theo Foukkare congratulated APCO Alfredton retailers Olivia and Ivor Riesewyk on their win. “This really is the biggest honour in our industry, especially when you consider there are more than 7,000 convenience stores across Australia. “For Olivia and Ivor to snag both independent of the year and store of the year is just phenomenal and I think their regular customers in Ballarat, as well as those just stopping by, all know just how great of an operation they’re running. “Quality food and coffee is paramount in the modern convenience store and APCO Alfredton now proudly owns the…

“Myself and our Retail Members representing more than 7300 Petrol & Convenience stores nationally respectfully disagree with SA Police Commissioner Grant Stevens comments over recent days that the industry could ‘fix fuel theft overnight’, by simply getting drivers to prepay. “The fuel and convenience retail industry has changed dramatically over the past decade and a high number of motorists come into the retail store to purchase their food, drinks, top up grocery items or a snack. “30 per cent of all customers purchase items from inside the store when they buy fuel, delivering over $3 billion in retail sales nationally. “Forcing consumers to pre-pay puts this $3 billion of sales – in an industry that employees over 80,000 frontline staff – at huge risk of being lost. ”Adopting a mandatory prepayment model for fuel would be like asking all supermarket shoppers to authorise payment for milk or bread before entering…

Following the Federal Government’s forced admission of failure over its own vaping Bill – and amid Labor’s chaotic attempt to make policy-on-the-run – the Australian Association of Convenience Stores (AACS) has welcomed the Coalition’s strong stance to strictly regulate vaping to crack down on crime and keep dangerous and toxic illicit vapes out of the hands of Australian children. AACS CEO Theo Foukkare said the Coalition’s announcement that it would adopt a similar, strictly regulated model to other Western Countries is exactly what the majority of concerned Australian voters want, as the nation grapples with an insidious and out-of-control black-market that is behind the country’s youth vaping crisis. “The Coalition’s commitment to adopt a strictly regulated licensed retail framework for the sale of vapes – in the same way that tobacco and alcohol sales are managed – follows best practice models that are already established in other comparable countries, which…

The Australian Association of Convenience Stores (AACS) is calling upon Senators to vote against the Albanese Government’s failed prohibition vaping laws and instead strictly regulate vapes for adults only, like alcohol and tobacco. AACS CEO Theo Foukkare said the overwhelming driver of Australia’s youth vaping crisis is Labor’s existing vaping ban, which has led to over 120 million illegal vapes being sold each year by criminals through the black market who don’t care what they are selling, where they are selling and who they are selling to. “Prohibition of a mainstream adult consumer product like alcohol or tobacco in any country has always led to the creation of an out-of-control black market enriching criminals, wasting taxpayer dollars and introducing crime into our communities.” Mr Foukkare said. “Strictly regulating and controlling vaping products for adults-only has been shown to reduce youth vaping rates by more than 65 per cent in the…

A new independent payments group launched today will advocate for fairer regulation, lower debit transaction fees and greater reliability for Australian businesses and their customers, as the cost-of-living climbs and cash is rapidly replaced by digital payments in the Australian economy. The Independent Payments Forum Australia (IPF) aims to represent voices that currently go unheard in a payments debate dominated by the big banks and their subsidiaries, global technology players and card schemes, Visa and Mastercard. IPF founders and self-confessed “payments nerds”, Brad Kelly and Warwick Ponder, believe the current payment landscape in Australia leaves little room for many payments participants to have their say and affect change in a system that is costing businesses and their customers more than a billion dollars in unnecessary debit fees. It is essential to maintain innovation and competition in the market which provides real value for small businesses and consumers, they said. Small…

Petrol station workers ‘soft targets’ in violent crime surge. Petrol stations are “dangerous” and vulnerable to more violent crime like banks, sparking a new safety campaign amid calls for better security and planning rules.x Ahead of a major retail crime summit this week, a new study reveals at least 4000 South Australian retail staff are employed at more than 600 “high risk” and “soft target” outlets are facing an increasing crime threat. The state’s biggest union on Sunday will unveil a new safety campaign for workers, who are exposed to a “hotbed” of violent crime including armed hold-ups, robberies and assaults. One worker told how violence and abuse was “so commonplace they were ‘on the phone to the police almost every night’”, an alarming SDA survey revealed. The powerful union, which represents retail staff, is calling for an overhaul to planning and workplace laws as there are no mandatory or uniform rules for the industry. The state government will consider any reforms – including how…