Coles red-faced after Anzac gaffe

DAYS after rival Woolies was lambasted for breaking NSW’s strict Anzac Day trading laws, Coles’ chickens are coming home to roost.

Did Coles play chicken on Anzac Day? Picture: Aaron Francis/The Australian

DAYS after rival Woolies was lambasted for breaking NSW’s strict Anzac Day chook-out laws, the chickens are coming home to roost for Coles.

A customer at the Coles in Leichhardt in Sydney’s inner west snapped a photo of a Lilydale roast chicken on Monday, time-stamped at 12:50pm.

Similar pics were snapped of Woolworths chickens time-stamped as early as 10:50am, suggesting the supermarket chain may have breached strict Anzac Day trading restrictions by allowing staff in early to prepare for 1pm trade.

Breaches of the NSW Retail Trading Act 2008 carry maximum penalties of $11,000 per store.

A Coles spokesman said the rogue batch of roast chickens was an isolated incident and the retailer would pay the appropriate fine.

“Coles provided detailed instructions to all of our 236 NSW stores that no team members were to work before 1pm on Anzac Day, as was required by the NSW government,” he said.

“However a single manager at one Sydney store, who had been called in early that morning to attend to an emergency alarm, decided to cook a batch of roast chickens prior to the 1pm opening.

“This was a single case and was not in accordance with our state-wide directive to our teams to not to begin work before 1pm. Coles regrets the error at this single store and will pay the appropriate fine as stipulated under NSW law.”

A photo taken in the Leichhardt Coles on Anzac Day.

On Tuesday night, NSW Treasurer and Industrial Relations Minister Gladys Berejiklian confirmed trading breaches were being investigated.

“NSW Industrial Relations is responsible for investigating alleged breaches of retail trading laws,” she said. “I am advised by NSW IR that they are pursuing this issue.”

On Monday, a Coles spokesman said: “While our stores in NSW were allowed to open from 1pm on Anzac Day, the NSW government would not allow our team members into stores before we opened so that we could prepare for our customers.

“Unfortunately this meant that some products including roast chickens and store-baked bread were not available for a few hours after our NSW stores had opened.

“We apologised to our customers for the inconvenience and our team worked hard through the afternoon to deliver our full product range.”

Woolworths, for its part, claimed the work was carried out by “salaried volunteer managers” and so was “in line with NSW regulations”.

RSL BACKS HALF-DAY TRADE

Asked whether Woolworths had disrespected Anzac Day by allegedly breaching trading restrictions, RSL NSW president Rod White said he didn’t think “disrespect” was the right term.

“I think it’s noncompliance with the legislation,” he said. “You and I as citizens in this country have to comply with the laws of the land. I don’t think it’s deliberate disrespect, I think it’s an element of noncompliance in a commercial sense.”

But Mr White said the RSL would be “concerned if this noncompliance became a regular thing”. “If I break the rules driving my car down the road I risk getting fined, and if retailers break the rules they risk getting fined,” he said.

“But we would be most concerned if the employees were blamed for any of this. I suspect the employees simply did what they were asked to do.”

The RSL, however, is firmly opposed to any push to fully restrict trading on Anzac Day.

“Our view is that once the commemorative phase of Anzac Day is concluded, that the afternoon is that phase where we go into friendship and celebration such as unit reunions, sporting events like football matches, horse racing, two-up,” Mr White said.

“During the morning hours [the RSL] has worked with state governments [to ensure] we have just appropriate trading for the broader community to get access to essential services such as fuel stations and some outlets for necessary food items.

“We would certainly resist any change that brought about increased trading in the morning.”

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