Suppliers to raise risk concerns at supermarket inquiry
Fresh produce suppliers are expected to appear before an inquiry into supermarkets, AAP reports.
It follows allegations grocery giants used their market power to get the upper hand over farmers, some of whom feared raising their concerns with their contract partners.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission is conducting public hearings as part of its supermarkets inquiry, with produce suppliers scheduled to appear today.
Fruit and vegetable suppliers earlier told the commission there was a lack of transparency around pricing and volumes and supermarkets were able to retain a disproportionate amount of the value, leaving suppliers with more of the risk.
Many expressed concerns about their capacity to negotiate prices, the commission noted in its interim report in August. Other concerns related to supermarkets encouraging oversupply, then rejecting produce more regularly. The commission reported:
These suppliers suspect some rejections are to manage supply levels rather than reflecting genuine quality concerns.
Some complained of being held liable for damage caused to produce during freight, while not being able to pick the transport provider.
Suppliers consistently reported they would not raise their concerns with the supermarket due to fear it would jeopardise their commercial relationship.
Key events
ANZ posts $6.7bn profit as overdue loans surge
Jonathan Barrett
ANZ has posted a $6.73bn full year cash profit, down 8% from last year’s robust result, while reporting a surge in the number of late repayments from struggling mortgage holders.
The major lender revealed that the size of 90-plus day past due loans, mainly consisting of mortgages, leapt 47% over the past year to $4.17bn.
The ANZ chief executive, Shayne Elliott, said:
Higher interest rates are impacting customers and we saw an increase in those requiring hardship support. Our data shows customers, in general, are holding up better than expected.
ANZ’s results followed a similar pattern to rivals Westpac and NAB, which also reported full year results this week. While bank profits are generally down from last year, they are still high by recent standards.
ANZ’s cash profit for the 12 month period to the end of September is 12% higher than the equivalent 2021 levels.
The bank issued a final dividend of 83 cents per share.
‘Let’s all move on’: Hockey on Rudd’s comments criticising Trump
Joe Hockey was also asked how Kevin Rudd should “make amends” for his now-deleted social media posts criticising Donald Trump.
Hockey responded that he and Rudd are “different people” but that he is “inherently a good man” and is working hard for Australia in Washington:
Look, I don’t think President Trump or any of his team [are] in a position to say they won’t work with our ambassador. I think it’s really important they do.
Kevin Rudd has the trust and confidence of Anthony Albanese, and that’s the way it should be … I think we’ve just got to move on. It’s been a source of so much talk and conjecture in Australia, let’s all move on.
He is the ambassador. Anthony Albanese is the prime minister. Let’s just make it work and whether you, Liberal or Labor, Green or Pauline Hanson, whatever you are, we’ve got to be all Team Australia and all shoulders to the wheel.
Trump sees Australia as ‘prepared to do its heavy lifting’: Joe Hockey
Australia’s former ambassador to the US Joe Hockey also spoke with Sunrise earlier on the Australia-US relationship, after the election result this week.
He argued that Donald Trump is “starting in a very positive position with Australia.”
When he was previously president we were able to build up a very good relationship. It got off to rocky start with Malcolm Turnbull, and then Malcolm Turnbull and then Scott Morrison worked hard to repair it.
He likes what we do. He sees Australia as being prepared to do its heavy lifting. It’s not leeching off the United States … We’re partners in war and we’ve been brothers and sisters in arms. Donald Trump knows that Australia is a mate, so that’s a very strong foundation to build a relationship.
He congratulated Anthony Albanese for calling Trump so soon after his election victory and being one of 70 world leaders to speak with him over the last 72 hours.
Clare says JD Vance has ‘said stronger things’ about Trump ‘than anyone in Australia’
Jason Clare was also asked whether the Albanese government is starting “on the back foot” with Donald Trump, given the comments from US ambassador Kevin Rudd on X – that have since been deleted.
Clare said that Trump’s VP, JD Vance, has “said stronger things about him than anyone in Australia.”
The PM and the president had a chat yesterday, a really good conversation – like every prime minister and president has worked closely together since John Curtin and Roosevelt. This is a mutual interest. Just like Albanese strengthened our relationships with other countries around the world, we’ll work to strengthen the relationship with our closest ally.
Labor minister ‘absolutely’ believes Trump will uphold Aukus deal
The education minister, Jason Clare, was up on Sunrise earlier where he weighed in on the US election result.
Specifically, he was asked whether he believes the president-elect, Donald Trump, would hold up the Aukus deal, and responded, “absolutely”.
Aukus is one of those examples where [the] Labor party, Liberal party and Republicans are on the same page. When the legislation went through the American congress only a couple of months ago it was bipartisan in its support. Democrats and Republicans [are] both backing this. I think both countries understand it’s in our mutual interest.
The Albanese government has indicated it would persist with the Aukus deal:
Queensland premier doubles down on ‘adult crime, adult time’ election promise
The Queensland premier, David Crisafulli, spoke with Sunrise earlier this morning after police charged a 16-year-old boy with manslaughter – after he allegedly ran a red light in a stolen car in Murrumba Downs, killing a 69-year-old woman.
After basing his election campaign on the “adult crime, adult time” slogan, Crisafulli told the program:
It really is one of the most traumatic things to have to experience yesterday for the entire state, but also for that family [and] for police officers who are caught in the crossfires.
I will obviously be very cautious what I say. There’s allegations and they have to be tested. I want the state to know, a state that’s grieving this morning, that change must happen and change will happen.
We spoke about adult crime, adult time. We’ll be sitting here in parliament in the next fortnight. I can tell you it will be the first bit of legislation and it will be law by Christmas. That’s the commitment we made. Things just must change.
Queensland temperatures 6C to 8C above average: meteorologist
Senior meteorologist Dean Narramore from the Bureau of Meteorology just spoke with ABC News Breakfast to provide more details on the persisting heatwave conditions across much of the country.
He said temperatures were 6C to 8C above average in Queensland:
Now, that translates to temperatures in the high 30s to low 40s … That heat is likely to linger as we get through the weekend [and] slowly cool down in the south-east, but continue for inland areas right through the next week and for much of our tropical north as well.
He said a cool change currently moving through South Australia would reach Victoria, Tasmania and southern New South Wales throughout the day.
But for northern Australia and inland Queensland, that’s where the heat is going to continue over the weekend, and into early and even into the middle part of next week.
Total fire ban for Sydney amid heatwave and high fire danger rating
Earlier, we flagged that heatwave warnings were persisting across multiple states today – including New South Wales.
The Rural Fire Service has put a total fire ban in place for greater Sydney and the Illawarra/Shoalhaven region today, with a high fire danger rating across much of the state.
Total fire bans are also in place further north near the Queensland border, in the north western and upper central west plains districts.
‘A duty of care is a legitimate proposition’: Shorten on social media age limit
Moving to the government’s latest social media policy – banning under 16s from platforms – Bill Shorten was asked how users will actually verify users’ ages without handing over sensitive information to tech giants.
He didn’t respond directly but said that “the large tech companies have got the ability to do this” and used the example of mandatory seatbelts:
When we first proposed having mandatory seatbelts to protect people, car companies said that would just be the end of it. And well, you know what? It’s not, and we don’t ask civilians and car road users to bring their own seatbelt to a car. So why should social media companies buck past their own duty of care?
You’re not allowed to produce products and monetise and privatise kids experiences when they’re kids, and trade in their data, and just say ‘nothing to do with us’.
Shorten said the cut off of 16 years old was reached through “a lot of consultation”. He described the age limit as “a start” but “not the only tool.”
I recognise its limitations, and I recognise that people will try and do work-arounds, and I recognise social media companies will scream like scolded cats that anything which might affect their gazillion-dollar profit is just a pain in the butt for them.
But you know what? There’s not just them in this world. We don’t just exist to serve big social media companies, and a duty of care is a legitimate proposition. It was one of the recommendations of government inquiries and I think we’ll be hearing more about that.
Shorten provides more reaction to Trump election win
The government services minister, Bill Shorten, is now speaking with ABC RN to reflect on the results of the US election – having been Labor leader during Donald Trump’s last presidency.
Shorten said he believes the Albanese government will be able to find common ground with Trump despite having different agendas because “the alliance with America runs deep” and “it’s about our national interest”.
The American people have spoken. That’s unequivocal. Mr Trump got 72.7 million votes. Vice-president Harris got 68 million votes. He won. He’s the guy we’ve got to deal with. They’re a democratic country, they’ve had their elections. We respect the outcome.
Asked if he would like to see Anthony Albanese “be outspoken about things that he thinks are wrong”, Shorten answered: “I’ve got no doubt that our prime minister will speak up in the national interest, first and foremost.”
He was also asked about opposition leader Peter Dutton’s focus on cost of living and immigration, and if this mirrors the US, and responded:
One of the gifts which makes Australia one of the luckiest countries in the world is we’re the only nation who occupies a continent entirely to ourselves as a nation. So whilst we want to make sure that crooks and bad people are sent out of the country, we don’t have the same land border challenges as the US. I’m not quite sure it’s an important issue here, but the heat on those border states in America is just red hot.
