As it happened: ACCC takes Woolworths, Coles to court for misleading consumers; Albanese accuses Greens of pushing ‘extreme’ agenda

Thanks for reading the national news blog. This is where we’ll end today’s coverage.

To conclude, here’s a look back at the day’s major stories:

• The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission is suing Woolworths and Coles, alleging the supermarket giants misled customers about their discounts.
• Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced consultation would begin on a mandatory code of conduct for supermarkets, and said, “customers don’t deserve to be treated as fools”.
• The Reserve Bank is set to announce its latest decision on interest rates tomorrow, after the Greens challenged Treasurer Jim Chalmers to interfere in the bank’s decision-making to cut interest rates.
• Albanese accused Greens leader Adam Bandt of changing the way the party operates, saying it does not talk about the environment any more and instead focuses on an “extreme agenda”.
• Opposition Leader Peter Dutton used a speech to the Committee for Economic Development of Australia to argue in favour of the Coalition’s nuclear energy policy, stating the government will not reach its 2030 target or reach net zero by 2050 using renewables alone. However, he did not lay out details of the plan.
• The opposition leader separately vowed to abolish the position of First Nations Ambassador if he wins the next election.
• The Australian sharemarket closed in the red, dragged down by consumer stocks, kicking off a week that is likely to be dominated by the outlook for Australian interest rates. Coles and Woolworths both fell by more than 3 per cent.
• In world news, residents of southern Lebanon received calls from a Lebanese number ordering them to immediately distance themselves 1000 metres from any post used by Lebanese armed group Hezbollah.
• In sport news, players and their partners are arriving at Melbourne’s Crown Palladium for the AFL’s night of nights: the Brownlow. You can follow our dedicated live coverage here.
• Tony Popovic has vowed to restore pride in the Australian jersey and introduce a new “dynamic” style of play after being unveiled as the man tasked with turning around the Socceroos’ ailing World Cup qualification campaign.

Thanks again for joining us. This is Cassandra Morgan, signing off.

Smiggle’s sacked managing director John Cheston is facing a challenge by his former employer to have bonuses of about $4 million, already paid to him, returned to the ASX retailer.

Cheston announced in early June that he would be resigning from Smiggle, operated by Premier Investments and run by billionaire Solomon Lew, to jump ship to retailer Lovisa, run by industry rival Brett Blundy.

Former Smiggle boss John Cheston.Credit: Louise Kennerley

Cheston was serving out his year-long notice period when Premier Investments suddenly terminated him with immediate effect for engaging in “serious misconduct and a serious breach of his employment terms”.

Cheston has denied the allegations through his high-profile defamation lawyer Rebekah Giles.

In a statement released to the ASX this evening, Premier Investments said it would be forfeiting 113,550 performance shares that were issued in two tranches on October 18, 2023 and on May 29, 2024.

Based on Premier’s share price, which closed at $33.83 on Monday, 113,550 shares would be worth $3,837,990.

“Mr Cheston’s employment was terminated on 9 September 2024 because the Just Group Board considered he had engaged in serious misconduct and a serious breach of the terms of his employment,” the statement said.

“The Premier Board considers that it is contrary to the purpose and conditions of the Plan and otherwise inappropriate for Mr Cheston to receive the benefit of the Performance Shares that were issued on the aforementioned exercise dates.”

Lew is looking at spinning off Smiggle and Peter Alexander as their own standalone ASX companies.

He is also exploring a potential merger with Myer for a number of his other apparel brands that include Dotti, Jay Jays, Just Jeans, and Portmans.

Reduced debt levels may have given a boost to the budget bottom line, but the opposition says Australia remains well behind similar countries in the fight against inflation.

The federal government has spruiked figures showing a $149.1 billion improvement in debt levels compared with 2022 forecasts as the Reserve Back meets tomorrow to decide on its next move on interest rates.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in Canberra on Monday.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the lower gross debt of $906.9 billion allowed for further action in addressing cost-of-living concerns,

“If you lower debt, if you produce surpluses, that has downward pressure on inflation. That doesn’t happen by accident,” he told reporters in Canberra today.

“That happens because of good, responsible economic management.”

The final budget outcomes will further show a surplus for 2023/24 in the mid-teen billions, compared with a $9.3 billion prediction.

But shadow treasurer Angus Taylor said Australia was facing higher levels of inflation.

“Australia is at the back of the pack in bringing inflation down,” he said.

“Our core inflation is stuck. It hasn’t moved since January this year.

“The government has had its foot on the accelerator at exactly the time the Reserve Bank has had the foot on the brake ... we are seeing a situation where we have persistent high inflation, more persistent and higher than any of our peer countries.”

The cash rate is largely tipped to stay the same, with the RBA governor flagging no interest rate relief before 2025.

AAP

Supermarket giants Woolworths and Coles pulled in “hundreds of millions of dollars” from products advertised using allegedly “misleading” promotions, the consumer regulator says.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, which is suing the supermarkets over their allegedly misleading conduct, claims misleading promotions affected 266 Woolworths items and 245 Coles items.

The consumer regulator estimated that equated to “tens of millions” of sales over 20 months for Woolworths, and 15 months for Coles.

“On what we are able to estimate that equates to hundreds of millions of gross revenue,” chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb told ABC Afternoon Briefing.

Customers began contacting the consumer regulator a few years ago, questioning whether discounts were genuine, Cass-Gottlieb said.

She welcomed the federal government’s announcement it will start consultation on a mandatory code of conduct for grocery stores.

Tenants with pets will have a better shot at securing a rental and existing requirements will be tightened under reforms coming to NSW.

Landlords will still be able to reject pets on reasonable grounds, including if they could cause more damage than the bond would recoup.

NSW Premier Chris Minns at a press conference in July.Credit: Kate Geraghty

NSW is unlikely to follow Victoria, the only state that reverses the burden of proof, Premier Chris Minns told reporters today, but the legislation is still being finalised.

He said some landlords and property agencies were breaching “the spirit and the intent” of existing laws.

“We need to make sure that everybody understands the rules of the game,” Minns told reporters.

But renters will referee, if their application to have a pet is rejected, with landlords retaining some rights of refusal.

“It will be incumbent on the tenant to take the landlord to the [NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal],” Minns said.

Other rules of the game for tenants to understand and enforce include additional charges to pay rent.

Landlords and agents are required to provide at least one way to pay without incurring additional costs, but legislation will make it “absolutely clear”, NSW Rental Commissioner Trina Jones told reporters.

“You must have the option to pay, freely, your rent every time,” she said.

The NSW government plans to introduce legislation to implement the reforms in October.

AAP

Back to world news, and the Israeli military conducted another round of extensive strikes against targets of the Iranian-backed Hezbollah movement in Lebanon on Monday, and suggested a ground incursion might be needed to secure its war goals.

The strikes constituted the most geographically widespread bombing that Israel has simultaneously carried out since its conflict with Hezbollah began nearly a year ago in parallel with the war on Gaza.

Israeli security and rescue forces work at the site hit by a rocket fired from Lebanon, in Kiryat Bialik, northern Israel, on Sunday.Credit: AP

The attacks came amid some of the heaviest cross-border exchanges of fire in nearly a year of conflict.

The military gave no further details of the strikes.

Israeli military spokesperson Daniel Hagari called on residents of south Lebanon to keep away from Hezbollah posts. He said Israel began striking Hezbollah posts in Lebanon after identifying an intention to fire on Israel.

Asked by reporters about a possible Israeli ground incursion into Lebanon, Hagari said, “we will do whatever is needed” in order to return evacuated residents of northern Israel to their homes safely, a war priority for the Israeli government.

You can read more here.

Reuters

Teal MP Allegra Spender says Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has put forward no credible plan for cutting emissions and delivering reliable energy over the next decade.

Dutton said today in his speech at the Committee for Economic Development of Australia that federal Labor would not meet its 2030 target through renewable energy, and that nuclear energy was the best way to approach Australia’s energy policy.

Peter Dutton addressing the Committee for Economic Development of Australia today.Credit: Steven Markham/AAP

In response, Spender said Dutton had put forward “no credible plan for cutting carbon emissions”.

Here’s her statement:

We can keep our options open to nuclear in future, but it’s what we do in the next ten years that matters. Nuclear can’t deliver in that timeframe.

The Liberal party needs to commit to delivering a 43 per cent reduction by 2030, in line with Australia’s international commitments. Currently Peter Dutton won’t even commit to having a 2030 target. That’s not a credible climate policy.

With temperature records continuing to tumble, we need to take action today to reduce climate pollution. We can’t afford to wait until the late 2030s and 2040s and hope for a silver bullet.”

Now to Melbourne, and we’ve kicked off our live coverage of AFL’s night of nights: Brownlow Medal day.

The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald’s national fashion editor Melissa Singer is at the helm of our dedicated Brownlow live blog, which you can find here.

Collingwood star Josh Daicos’s fiancée, model Annalise Dalins, gets ready for tonight.Credit: Justin McManus

Our coverage will take you into the suites at Crown Melbourne, where teams of hair and make-up artists, stylists and photographers are busy making the AFL’s best and fairest – and their partners – ready for tonight.

The Brownlow is the biggest red carpet of the year, both in terms of national attention and how much it generates for the fashion industry, so expectations are high.

The red carpet itself kicks off about 5pm, before the action moves inside.

Ten of The Age’s 13 tipsters have selected Nick Daicos, the silky son of a Magpie great, to claim football’s highest individual honour in 2024.

Head over to the dedicated Brownlow blog now to follow our live coverage.

The Australian sharemarket has stayed in red territory at lunchtime on Monday, dragged down by consumer stocks and miners, kicking off a week that is likely to be dominated by the outlook for Australian interest rates.

The S&P/ASX 200 was down 60.4 points, or 0.7 per cent, to 8149.1 at 12.15pm (AEST). Supermarket giants Coles and Woolworths fell by nearly 3 per cent after the competition watchdog launched legal action against them, alleging they misled customers through their discounts.

ACCC chairwoman Gina Cass-Gottlieb is launching legal action against Coles and Woolworths.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

The weakest sector on the local bourse was consumer staples, down 2.5 per cent, while consumer discretionary stocks fell 1.4 per cent.

The biggest decliners among the large caps was Coles, with losses of 3.4 per cent, followed by Harvey Norman (down 2.9 per cent) and Woolworths (down 2.9 per cent).

You can read our full lunchtime markets recap here.

In sport news, Tony Popovic has been officially confirmed as the new coach of the Socceroos.

Football Australia made the announcement today, with Popovic describing his selection as a “great honour”.

Tony Popovic celebrates the Wanderers’ 2014 AFC Champions League win.Credit: AP

“Coaching Socceroos is probably a dream come true as a coach,” Popovic told reporters.

“I look forward to the challenge, I’m excited by it.

“We’ve [had] some great success recently at the World Cup. This campaign hasn’t started the best but I know there is enough time, there are enough games.”

Capped 58 times for Australia as a player, Popovic has emerged during the past decade as one of Australia’s top coaches, with his signature achievement being the Western Sydney Wanderers’ AFC Champions League triumph in 2014.

He also won the A-League premiership with the Wanderers in 2012-13, Perth Glory in 2018-19, and the Australia Cup with Melbourne Victory in 2021, guiding all three teams to grand final defeats.