Coles CEO Leah Weckert says regions need better supply networks

When floods and cyclones hit, local communities can quickly run out of fresh food, groceries and vital supplies. Coles CEO Leah Weckert says greater investment is needed in road and rail links.

Coles CEO Leah Weckert. Picture: Martin Keep

Coles chief executive Leah Weckert wants governments to cham­pion greater investment in the economy’s vital supply chains that distribute essentials such as fresh food, groceries and medicines as recurring natural disasters leave remote communities and regions stranded.

Ms Weckert, fresh from solving the complexities of getting groceries to the northern parts of Western Australia following heavy rainfall, and now facing similar issues in Queensland due to Cyclone Alfred, believes governments and the companies that use road and rail routes need to prepare for these “once in 100 years” threats as part of doing business.

“We have seen two of these ‘pretty live’ examples just in the last few weeks with far north Queensland and the far north of WA, and certainly during these times of crisis, natural disasters, Coles always shows up,” Ms Weckert told The Australian in the lead-up to her appearing as a keynote speaker at next week’s The Australian Global Food Forum.

“We have team members that live in these communities as they live close to the store that they work in and so it is incredibly important for them we show up for the communities when things go wrong. And one of the challenges here is that Australia is a very big place, and supply chains here are very vulnerable because we’re so reliant on rail and road networks to actually get goods through.

“And there’s very few of these communities in remote areas that have sufficient local supply of food that they can have to cope when that supply gets cut off.”

Local communities can be quickly cut off from fresh food, groceries and medicine when natural disasters hit. Picture: Evan Morgan

Ms Weckert said Australia needed to invest in more resilient infrastructure to bolster its supply chain networks.

“And, so that we don’t have this issue of every time a big cyclone comes through, every time there’s a big storm, you’re essentially seeing that infrastructure is almost washed away at the moment and we need something which is able to withstand the types of weather conditions that we are facing.

“People used to talk about these as one-in-100-year events. That’s just not the case any more. I feel like at the start of almost every calendar year, we are almost holding our breath for which is going to be the area that is affected in January — these things are just happening more and more frequently.”

Complicating the issue is the fact that the roads and rail that crisscross Australia are owned or operated by private companies, but there is a role for government to be the champion of improving these networks.

“We certainly will invest when we see (poor) weather in advance of events coming through. But the reality is, if this is national infrastructure, this is not something that is specific for one company. You need to get through food, you need to get through medical supplies, you need to get through fuel,” Ms Weckert said.

Coles CEO Leah Weckert is calling for greater investment in the improvement of supply chains to protect against the rising occurrence of natural disasters. Picture: Rebecca Michael

“It can’t be up to individual companies to solve infrastructure problems. That has to be something that is championed and invested in by government.”

Coles, for example, will distribute additional stock to vulnerable areas in advance of a major weather event to fortify local inventory. “We build cyclone stock ahead of season in the key risk areas, so extra water and baby formula and essentials and the like,” Ms Weckert said.

“And what happened in Queensland recently, in the way we approach it is we actually fill the trucks, and then we drive them so they’re sitting right on the edge of where the water is, and then we wait for permission to come through, to cross the bridge or to cross the water.

“That often means sometimes we have got trucks waiting there for days and that can mean fresh food can go off, and we have to then bring the truck back and send the truck back up.

“But you can just imagine the additional cost to be basically holding stock with drivers there so that the second these roads become accessible we can get through as quickly as possible.”

Ms Weckert said this can be further complicated by the regulation around local councils and state governments as Coles traverses state lines to enter zones affected by natural disasters. She said more work on harmonising these state-to-state regulations would also help streamline supply chain routes.

Ms Weckert is a former McKinsey & Co consultant who served in several executive roles at Coles before being elevated to CEO in 2023. Coles shares have outperformed larger rival Woolworths, advancing 13.6 per cent over the past year, compared to a fall of 11.7 per cent for Woolworths shares.