FEBRUARY 27, 2014 AAP TOBACCO products in the EU will soon feature less attractive packaging and menthol cigarettes will be on their way out, in a move that mirrors Australia’s crackdown on big tobacco. The bloc’s parliament approved new rules on Wednesday aimed at curbing smoking. “By ensuring that tobacco products look and taste like tobacco products, the new rules will help to reduce the number of people who start smoking in the EU,” Tonio Borg, the bloc’s health commissioner, said on Tuesday. He argued that tobacco has a “devastating effect” on health, pointing to estimates that 700,000 Europeans die of tobacco-related diseases every year, that smokers live an average of 14 years less than non-smokers and that they spend more years “in poor health”. In a world-first Australia introduced plain packaging in late 2012 with all cigarettes and tobacco products now sold in drab olive-brown packs. The UK is…

LUCY CALLANDER FEBRUARY 25, 2014 MORNINGTON PENINSULA LEADER MORNINGTON Peninsula Shire councillors have slammed a decision by Planning Minister Matthew Guy to approve two super service stations alongside Peninsula Link. The councillors were due to discuss the proposal at last night’s council meeting but it was revealed the planning minister approved the plans on February 13. In 2012 plans for the super servos at Baxter were rejected first by the shire then by VCAT. It is believed there will be no further input from Mornington Peninsula shire or landowners close to the proposed sites, which fall within designated green wedge zones. Angry councillors condemned the decision by Minister Guy at last night’s meeting and said it had serious implications for all Victorians. “This is about people’s rights,” Cr Anne Shaw said. Leader is awaiting a response from Planning Minister Matthew Guy.

TERRY MCCRANN FEBRUARY 26, 2014 HERALD SUN OH dear. Our competition tsar Rod Sims has made a complete ass of himself over the supermarket “shopper dockets” — and he’s now invited the Federal Court to make it official. Back in December, Sims came out with his version of a “peace in our time” statement — figuratively waving a piece of paper above his head, he claimed that the supermarket duo Coles and Woolworths had promised never again to “go to war” with petrol discounts. That in future they would be capped at 4c — to the relief of competing supermarkets and canopies, if, not necessarily, drivers. Well, that resounding “success” didn’t even last as long as the Neville Chamberlain original. Barely a month after the “last” 20c off docket, up popped Coles with a 14c one. Hang on a minute, what happened to that 4c promise? Ah, you need to…

JOHN DURIE FEBRUARY 26, 2014 THE AUSTRALIAN THE legal battle between the ACCC and the supermarket behemoths makes a mockery of last year’s grocery industry code of conduct and the regulatorÂ’s attempts to control pricing behaviour from Coles and Woolworths. Just weeks into a court enforceable undertaking the two sides are already arguing over the terms. What weight should a grocery supplier place in last year’s food industry code? The answer is next to zero based on present evidence. While we are at it, Small Business Minister Bruce Billson must be getting more than a little embarrassed that his root and branch review of the competition rules promised for late last year is yet to surface. The terms of reference are wide enough to wrap around the world a couple of times but it seems the problem is at Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s door and the choice as chair of…