Anna Henderson 1 Oct 2014 David Leyonhjelm A crossbench senator has thanked Australia’s smokers and attacked successive governments for increasing tobacco taxes in a speech in Federal Parliament. Liberal Democratic Party Upper House representative David Leyonhjelm voiced his gratitude to smokers for the $8 billion they provide in tobacco taxes each year. “Your generosity to the nation’s Treasury is truly staggering,” he told the Senate. Channelling the catchphrase of South Park television show character Mr Mackey, Senator Leyonhjelm told Parliament we can agree that “drugs are bad, mmmkay”, and it is probably also fair to say that “regressive taxes are bad, mmmkay”. The Liberal Democratic Party is a libertarian party that promotes a smaller role for government and the right for individuals to pursue their activities. The party has made similar statements about smokers in the past. In his speech Senator Leyonhjelm argued the tax on tobacco hits the poor…

TERRY BARNES Australian Financial Review The competition review led by Ian Harper has tackled both the pharmacists’ near-monopoly ownership of Australia’s 5000-plus community pharmacies and the myriad rules controlling where a pharmacy can dispense medicines under the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS). Stalinist location rules have been in place, with relatively minor modifications, ever since the Hawke government made the first five-year Community Pharmacy Agreement with the owners’ union, The Pharmacy Guild of Australia (PGA). What is in place today remains a Kafkaesque bog of red tape and bureaucracy protecting the interests of the very few – pharmacist proprietors and guild members – from the great many – taxpayers, consumers and even non-proprietor fellow pharmacists. In 2012, I wrote that location rules “protect the position of the relatively few retail pharmacists who have provider approvals in commercially desirable locations against the many who don’t”. Nothing has changed. Establishing a new pharmacy…

2nd October 2014 The Guardian Soda giants pledged to market bottled water, diet drinks and push for smaller sizes. Are they just what’s good for business? What’s in a name? Or 250 names? For Coca-Cola, it’s massive profits. Coke’s dramatic turnaround in fortunes – a reverse in an 11-year slide in profits – has been a stunning development. What drove it was its global, personalized run of Coke bottles with names. This summer, you could buy Coke cans blaring a number of international names suggested by customers, including Jake, Ali, Juan, Latoya, Maddy and Cassandra. Other bottles announced the drinker a “BFF” or a “star”. The idea was a social media and sales hit, bringing in a 2.4% increase in sales after 11 consecutive years of sales decline, according to Wells Fargo. Gimmicks, however, don’t keep global behemoths afloat forever. Beverage companies including Coke have other plans to curry favor…

RUPERT STEINER 2 October 2014 THE DAILY MAIL Sainsbury’s has launched a strategic review which could see Britain’s third-largest grocer cut its dividend as it becomes the latest big chain to announce a disappointing trading update. The supermarket giant cut its annual sales forecast and also said the review would leave ‘no stone unturned’. It will cover all areas including tapping the market for funds, but the firm said a rights issue was not currently on the cards. Checking out: Sainsbury’s has launched a strategic review which could see Britain’s third-largest grocer cut its dividend as it becomes the latest big chain to announce a disappointing trading update Checking out: Sainsbury’s has launched a strategic review which could see Britain’s third-largest grocer cut its dividend as it becomes the latest big chain to announce a disappointing trading update New chief executive Mike Coupe said the rate of change sweeping through…