MFG announced a £2.5bn deal today to acquire 337 Morrisons forecourts, with Morrisons takes a minority stake in MFG. This is a very significant and long term commercial deal. The proposed acquisition by MFG is of 337 Morrisons petrol forecourts (including fuel, convenience retail kiosk and ancillary services) and more than 400 associated sites, across the UK, for Ultra-Rapid electric vehicle (“EV”) charging development. This deal will position MFG as one of the largest and most significant ultra-rapid EV charge point operators in the UK, with over 1,300 sites serving and powering millions of customers a week. MFG will also grow to become the UK’s number two convenience store operator serving communities across the country. MFG has already committed to completing its £400m EV roll out by 2030, and through this partnership intends to electrify approximately 800 sites with thousands of Ultra-Rapid chargers across the combined estate in that timeframe.…

Police have charged two men and seized four guns and a significant amount of illicit tobacco as part of an investigation by Taskforce Lunar into a series of suspicious fires across Melbourne last year connected to the current illicit tobacco dispute. Warrants were executed yesterday by the Lunar and VIPER taskforces at four properties in Epping (2), Campbellfield and Thomastown. A 25-year-old Epping man, 40-year-old Campbellfield man and a 48-year-old Thomastown man were arrested and subsequently interviewed by police. The Epping a has been charged with arson (x4) and extortion while the Thomastown man has been charged with possess carry or use unregistered long arm, non prohibited person possess handgun without a licence, possession of traffickable quantity of firearms and handle stolen goods. Both were remanded in custody overnight and will appear at Melbourne Magistrates’ Court today. The Campbellfield man was released pending further enquiries. Police seized the following from…

Year-on-year surge as Aussie adult vapers increase by 30 per cent. More than 90,000 Australian adults have taken up vaping over the past three months, taking the total number of adults vapers to 1,723,000 – new Roy Morgan data has revealed. Almost 400,000 Australians took up vaping between December 2022 and December 2023 – which equates to a 30 per cent surge in uptake year-on-year, the Roy Morgan survey, commissioned by the Australian Association of Convenience Stores (AACS) found. Nationally, the number of adult vapers has grown by 349 per cent over the past five years and the Roy Morgan survey also found New South Wales had seen the biggest growth in vaping numbers, with an uptake of more than 470 per cent; that means more than half a million people aged over 18 took up vaping in that NSW since December 2019. Victoria’s adult vaping numbers have increased by…

The Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) is set to publish the gender pay gaps of large Australian employers with 100 or more employees on 27 February 2024. Where will the results be published? WGEA will publish the gender pay gap results for the period of 1 April 2022 – 31 March 2023 on their website via their existing Data Explorer tool. The gender pay gaps will be published by median as well as the gender composition and average remuneration per pay quartile. Employers that report to WGEA can find their information in their Executive Summary. Can employers provide context to the results? Employers will be given the opportunity to provide an ‘Employer Statement’. Providing an Employer Statement is not mandatory but does provide employers with the opportunity to showcase their strengths and contextualise their gender pay gap results. Employers should already have possession of their gender pay gap results and…