If you’re one of the many truckies that has to work this festive season, it’s not all bad news – as BP has again teamed up with Healthy Heads in Trucks and Sheds to offer free Christmas dinners to people in the road transport, warehousing and logistics industries. As a way to say thank you to those hard-working people keeping Australia moving on December 25, truckies can call into one of 18 participating BP truck stops around the country for a meal and dessert on the house. Options include roast pork with roasted vegetables, steamed greens, apple sauce and gravy, or roast turkey with roasted vegetables, steamed greens, cranberry sauce and gravy. For dessert, you can choose between plum pudding or apple pie, both of which come with custard and ice-cream. The offer is available from 11am to 8pm on Wednesday December 25, while stocks last. To claim your free…

A service station in Melbourne’s south-east sold petrol for under a dollar per litre this morning to highlight the growing burden caused by the federal government’s fuel excise. Between 10am and 11am today APCO at Cranbourne West sold unleaded fuel at 99.9 cents – a price not seen for almost 20 years. Droves of motorists immediately swamped the servo, desperate to score themselves cheap fuel. Jasmine told 9News she managed to fill the fuel tank of her V8 Commodore for the first time in a while. “I can hardly drive this car,” she said. “I drive it once a week now because I can’t afford to.” Between 10 am and 11 am today APCO at Cranbourne West sold unleaded fuel at 99.9 cents. (Nine) Others planned ahead and arrived bearing jerry cans. Pensioner Pauline was there to make the most of the cheap fuel, too. “It’s ridiculous, I’m on a pension so you…

Amid closures and takeover efforts, new growth is part of strategy to reach 100,000 convenience stores globally by 2030, report says. Even as it moves forward with plans to close more than 400 underperforming 7-Eleven convenience stores in North America, global convenience-store company Seven & i Holdings Co. Ltd. on Wednesday said it also plans to open 500 new stores in the United States and Canada through 2027, according to a new report by Reuters. A spokesperson for Tokyo-based Seven & i, the parent company of 7-Eleven Inc., confirmed for the news agency an earlier report by Kyodo News about the plan for North America, adding that it was part of Seven & I’s strategy to grow to 100,000 convenience stores in 30 countries and regions by 2030. The strategy comes as the company is also fighting to fend off a more than $47 billion takeover bid by Circle K brand owner Laval,…

The Malinauskas Labor Government is continuing its tough approach to combatting the illicit tobacco and vape trade with the first illegal tobacco shops shut down under the government’s new powers. Minister Michaels has ordered the closure of five unlicensed stores located in Hindmarsh, Dernancourt, Salisbury North, Blair Athol and Campbelltown after considering evidence of recent illicit activity at the premises. The Hindmarsh store was the subject of multiple operations with the most recent raid by Consumer and Business Services (CBS) seizing nearly 10,000 illicit cigarettes, 2000 cigarette tubes and half a kilo of tobacco. The Minister’s closure orders apply for 72 hours, with the Minister able to apply to the Magistrates Court for a longer term closure order of up to six months. Any business who violates such an order can be hit with a penalty of up to $1.1 million and an individual up to $700,000. The government’s new…

The plan would redirect money to national defense priorities. “Incoming U.S. President Donald Trump’s transition team is recommending sweeping changes to cut off support for electric vehicles and charging stations and to strengthen measures blocking cars, components and battery materials from China,” reported Reuters, based on an internal transition team document Reuters has reviewed. The recommendations come as the U.S. electric vehicle transition stalls and China’s heavily subsidized EV industry gains strength, in part because of its “superior battery supply chain,” wrote Reuters. On the campaign trail, “Trump vowed to ease regulations on fossil-fuel cars and roll back what he called President Joe Biden’s EV mandate.” The transition-team’s plan would redirect money now allocated for building charging stations and making EVs more affordable into national-defense priorities, including securing supplies of batteries that aren’t from China as well as the critical minerals to build them, reported Reuters. While batteries, minerals and other…