The Federal Government has announced it will commence an inquiry into food security in Australia, which comes as welcome news to the National Food Supply Chain Alliance. The Alliance, which is made up of nine national food industry associations, has been calling for an inquiry for many months, following a series of devastating natural disasters. The cumulative group, which includes the Australia Association of Convenience Stores (AACS), represents around 160,000 businesses with a combined revenue of $224 billion, and employing almost one million workers. The Alliance says studies have shown that achieving supply chain resilience must be a ‘multi-level’ effort meaning it should bring different groups of stakeholders together to work collectively to mitigate and soften the harm caused by supply chain disruptions. Richard Forbes, a spokesperson for the Alliance, says there has never been a more critical time to examine Australia’s food system and then develop a long-term national…

Assembles tech leadership team. Viva Energy has started laying foundations for the IT integration of the Coles Express business it bought in late September for $300 million. The acquisition is part of the Viva Energy’s plan to transition into a fully-integrated fuel and convenience retailer. As part of the shift, Viva Energy established a new retail technology and digital role to oversee the network integration, with Jason McNamara commencing in June. He announced his appointment in a brief LinkedIn post late last month. McNamara will have oversight for incorporating the two companies’ systems, which is expected to take roughly two years. Under its technology transition program, Viva Energy will link current retail technology and digital capabilities from both Coles and Viva Energy as the changeover progresses. Pending final approvals, Viva Energy expects integration costs, including any digital and technology expenses, to reach between $120 million and $140 million over the next three years. The costs will…

BP will aggressively chase Pilbara miners to buy its green hydrogen ahead of exporting it, as the UK oil and gas major gets the ball rolling on the $US36 billion ($56 billion) green hydrogen project in Western Australia. BP bought a 40.5 per cent share of the Asian Renewable Energy Hub in June. If fully developed, the hub would cover 6500 square kilometres of northwest WA with more than 1700 wind turbines – up to 290 metres high – and 18 large-scale solar farms. BP chief financial officer Murray Auchincloss said he expects power to start flowing from the hub sometime between 2025 and 2027. “First of all, it’s a domestic play,” he told investment analysts this week. “Can we bring green hydrogen or green power to the nearby mining and other industries?” BP’s decision to chase domestic customers is the third attempt by stakeholders to generate revenue from 26…

The maker of Dove toiletries and Streets ice creams will allow 500 Australian employees to work shorter weeks after a pilot found staff could be just as productive in four days as five by removing low-value tasks such as meetings and emails. Unilever Australia will test a four-day workweek for at least 12 months from November 14, and will base its trial on the 100:80:100 model, whereby employees retain 100 per cent of their pay but reduce their hours to 80 per cent, provided they maintain 100 per cent productivity. Anish Singh, head of HR at Unilever Australia and New Zealand, said a four-day workweek gives staff greater flexibility and improves their wellbeing. Oscar Colman All staff except for factory employees covered by existing enterprise bargaining agreements will take part in the trial, which comes after Unilever achieved good results with a four-day workweek experiment in New Zealand. University of Technology Business School monitored…

French national Frederic Baudry says it has been an “amazing couple of years” since he took up the role as president of BP Australia in early 2020, but there’s a big task ahead. This is an edited transcript of an interview with Carbon Challenge on the British major’s journey to transform its LNG-dominated business here to one fit for the clean energy revolution, including hydrogen, renewables and clean fuels. Frederic, thanks for joining us. How do you assess what progress Australia has made in the energy transition since you arrived? Considering it’s only two years – and two years of COVID — since we first started that, it’s such an evolution from that situation to now, with a legislated set of targets to 2030. Forty-three per cent [emissions reduction] is great – 2030 is only eight years away – but really, it’s what happens beyond that, and what we put…

Digitisation will be the big transformation in the retail industry over the next few years and retailers who don’t put it at their core will get left behind. That’s according to Paul Boyle, CEO at Retail Insight, the store-focused execution insight platform. With over 10% of the world’s grocery sales data running through Retail Insight’s systems every day, Boyle has an expert read on the market. And the company is focused on helping its customers achieve their full potential. “The aim is to take as much value from the store as you can possibly get,” Boyle says. “Even if they are riding the crest of a wave, could they be squeezing more value out of the store? We help retailers understand how to get the full potential from their store estate.” That includes dealing with the perennial retail challenges of keeping shelves fully stocked, managing fresh food waste, and scheduling…