Woolworths buys 31 hotels in NSW, including pokies 21st Dec 2011 — Woolworths' hospitality arm ALH Group has signed long-term leases and acquired the businesses and associated assets of 31 hotels and one detached bottleshop in NSW for $500 million from the Laundy, Waugh and De Angelis groups. The deal also strengthens Woolworths' position as the country's biggest owner-operator of poker machines, lifting the number of machines under its control to 13,480. [source]
Foster's bought by SABMiller 1st Dec 2011 — Foster’s shareholders voted on 1 Dec 2011, over 99% in favour, to end 100 years of Australian ownership when they approved the sale of the company the world's second largest brewer, SABMiller. Brewing operation are to remain in Australia. SABMiller will also acquire the remaining 50 per cent of Pacific Beverages owned by Coca-Cola Amatil. All of Australia’s major breweries except Coopers are now foreign owned. [source]
The Guide to Ethical Supermarket Shopping 2012 30th Oct 2011 — The 2012 edition of the Guide to Ethical Supermarket Shopping will be released in mid-November with special features on Beauty, Toys, Meat and Beer. In anticipation, we have substantially reduced the prices on the 2011 edition. We are also taking pre-orders for the 2012 edition. Our SHOP page has plenty of other goodies to help you match your purchases with your values too. Start your Christmas shopping early. [source]
Sustainable Seafood Guide iPhone app 22nd Sep 2011 — Australian Marine Conservation Society have launched Australia's first ever Sustainable Seafood Guide iPhone App. If you don't have an iPhone, the guide is also available online or you can buy a hard copy guide from our online store. [source]
Watchdog acts on chickens 14th Sep 2011 — The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission is alleging barn-raised chickens are not ''free to roam'' and has launched Federal Court action against Baiada Poultry and Bartter Enterprises (one company), which supply chickens under the Steggles brand. Steggles is a major supplier to fast-food giant KFC. [source]
Call for improved price transparency on food 8th Sep 2011 — Independents Bob Katter and Nick Xenophon will introduce a bill to Federal Parliament calling for retailers to display the prices they pay farmers for their fresh produce next to the price they're asking from customers. In some cases products like citrus have a mark-up of 1,000 per cent. They say Coles and Woolworths need to explain the large price disparity between farm gate prices and retail prices of produce. [source]
Cargill and Teys Bros combine beef 5th Sep 2011 — US commodity-trading giant Cargill has completed the merging its Australian beef business with Teys Bros, the country’s second-largest beef processor. The companies have combined their businesses into a 50:50 joint venture, which will trade under the name of "Teys Australia - A Cargill Joint Venture". [source]
Metcash to buy Franklins after all 26th Aug 2011 — Metcash / IGA have been cleared to buy Franklins Supermarkets after the Federal Court ruled against the ACCC’s attempt to block the acquisition. Franklins is owned by South African company Pick n Pay. The court ruling means the 90 Franklins stores (all in NSW) will be returning to Australian ownership, and will be rebadged as IGA. [source]
Asahi buys NZ's Independent Liquor 18th Aug 2011 — Hot on the heels of the purchases of the juice business of P&N Beverages, and New Zealand drinks maker Charlie's Group (maker of Phoenix soft drinks), Asahi has announced it is also acquiring NZ's largest maker of ready-to-drink alcoholic beverages, Independent Liquor, for $1.2bn. [source]
Asahi to buy P&N's juice business + Charlie's 16th Aug 2011 — Japan's Asahi Group has agreed to buy the mineral water and juice business of P&N Beverages for $188 million, and has bought New Zealand drinks maker Charlie's Group (maker of Phoenix soft drinks). Asahi’s bid to buy all of P&N earlier this year was blocked by the ACCC. Asahi is Kirin’s main rival in Japan in the beer/beverages sector. The ACCC has approved the revised deal. [source]
Meat Eater's Guide to Climate Change + Health 19th Jul 2011 — The Environmental Working Group (US) release their 'Meat Eater's Guide to Climate Change & Health'.
EWG partnered with CleanMetrics, an environmental analysis firm, to assess the greenhouse gas emissions associated with 20 types of meat, fish, dairy and vegetable proteins, as well as these foods’ effects on health. [source]
Gunns sell Tassie woodchip mill to environmentalists 14th Jul 2011 — Gunns have sold their Tasmanian woodchip mill to two environmentalists (Graeme Wood and Kathmandu founder Jan Cameron) for $10 million. Ms Cameron and Mr Wood are closely allied to green groups and strongly opposed to native forest logging in Tasmania. While the mill will continue operating for now as it phases out native forest logging, its long-term future looks to be as a tourism destination.
[source]
Senate passes palm oil labelling bill 24th Jun 2011 — A bill requiring products containing palm oil be explicitly labelled, rather than described as ‘vegetable oil’, has been passed by the Australian Senate thanks to a Coalition-Greens alliance. It still needs to pass in the House of Representatives, which seems likely if the Coalition-Greens alliance holds. [source]
SABMiller bid to acquire Foster’s 23rd Jun 2011 — The United Kingdom's SAB Miller plans to buyout Australia's largest brewer, the Foster's Group (formerly Carlton and United Breweries) for $A 12.22 billion. The deal would partly put the London-listed brewer in a strategic position to grab the market from Belgium-based Anheuser-Busch inBev. [source]
Woolworths switches own-label milk from NF to Parmalat 20th Jun 2011 — Woolworths has announced plans to source all its own-label fresh milk products from Parmalat in NSW, a move the company said is not related to its ‘milk war’ with Coles. [source]
Health group calls for palm oil labelling 17th Jun 2011 — FOOD manufacturers should be forced to label all products containing palm oil to help push down the nation's soaring levels of saturated fat consumption, a leading heath group says. [source]
Cosmetics section expanded 23rd May 2011 — Good news for the ladies: Our Cosmetics section has grown. We’ve added 100 cosmetics and skin care brands to our database, which you can see right now on our website. Shampoo and several other personal care product types have also been expanded. [source]
Shop Ethical! iPhone app 22nd Feb 2011 — The new Shop Ethical! iPhone app has just hit the App Store and is already #2 in the reference category. It features the latest data, a new ‘favourites’ section and a brand new look and feel. [source]
Monsanto versus Steve Marsh: First GM legal battle in Oz 20th Jan 2011 — One of the biggest legal battles in Australian GM history is brewing in Western Australia, following organic farmer Steve Marsh's loss of his organic certification because of GM contamination. [source]
Internal News
The Guide to Ethical Supermarket Shopping 2012 30th Oct 2011 — The 2012 edition of the Guide to Ethical Supermarket Shopping will be released in mid-November with special features on Beauty, Toys, Meat and Beer. In anticipation, we have substantially reduced the prices on the 2011 edition. We are also taking pre-orders for the 2012 edition. Our SHOP page has plenty of other goodies to help you match your purchases with your values too. Start your Christmas shopping early. [source]
New methodology rules 26th May 2011 — We have introduced two new rules to our assessment methodology: (1) if a company has praises and no criticisms, but does have minor criticisms (listed under information), the company's rating is downgraded from a full tick to a light tick. For example Bonne Bell get a full praise for being cruelty free, but their overall rating is a light tick, as they receive a minor criticism for rating poorly on EWG's Cosmetics Safety Database. (2) Company ratings are limited to a light tick if that company has an annual revenue of exceeding one billion dollars. This is consistent with our approach of supporting small local businesses over large multinationals. [source]
Assessment system upgrade 24th May 2011 — A major assessment system upgrade has been completed on the ethical.org.au website. Our new colour-coded icons reveal a much greater depth of information. At a glance you can see the category (Environment, Social, Animals, Business Ethics) and weighting (Praise, Lesser Praise, Minor Praise, Criticism, Lesser Criticism, Minor Criticism, Boycott Call, Neutral) assigned to each assessment item. This 8 tier weighting system is a significant improvement on our previous 4 tier system. [source]
Cosmetics section expanded 23rd May 2011 — Good news for the ladies: Our Cosmetics section has grown. We’ve added 100 cosmetics and skin care brands to our database, which you can see right now on our website. Shampoo and several other personal care product types have also been expanded. [source]
Assessment data updated 24th Mar 2011 — Our assessment database has had a significant update. Some dead weblinks have been fixed, a bunch of aging data has been removed, data from the FREE2WORK.org website has been added, plus other random bits and pieces. Our rating of a few companies changed. For owners of the 2011 edition of The Guide to Ethical Supermarket Shopping, be sure to check our Update Your Print Guide page: [source]
Shop Ethical! iPhone app 22nd Feb 2011 — The new Shop Ethical! iPhone app has just hit the App Store and is already #2 in the reference category. It features the latest data, a new ‘favourites’ section and a brand new look and feel. [source]
The Ethical Christmas Resource Kit 8th Dec 2010 — This resource kit explores some things you can do to make a difference with the way you celebrate this Christmas. [source]
New Shop page 1st Dec 2010 — Our new online shop is now online with other ethical goodies on offer as well as the new Guide to Ethical Supermarket Shopping 2011. [source]
The Guide to Ethical Supermarket Shopping 2011 is out now! 1st Dec 2010 — This new edition is completely revised and updated. We've added 250 brands, 50 companies, 5 product types and a brand new section on agribusiness. [source]
Issues section upgraded 12th Aug 2010 — We have overhauled the Issues section on our website. Several of the blurbs have been updated, plus there's 7 new ones including Overfishing, BPA and the High Cost of Animal Products. [source]
The Ethical Consumer Guide joins facebook 8th Aug 2010 — Come and join the conversation at our new facebook page. [source]
Shop Ethical! iPhone app v1.2 released 2nd Aug 2010 — The first major update of our popular Shop Ethical! iPhone app has just been released. What’s new in version 1.2? Updated data; more intuitive navigation; Share through Facebook, Twitter or email; ownership tree display improved; blurbs on Important Issues under Get Informed; improved sort order in tables; various bug fixes; compatible with iOS 4.0; and more. This is a free update for all Shop Ethical! owners. [source]
New navigation bar on www.ethical.org.au 28th Jun 2010 — We have made some changes our navigation bar. Check out our new Spread the Word and Household Action Challenge pages under GET INVOLVED, as well as our new improved News area, now with RSS. [source]
Labelling survey - Take action 11th May 2010 — As part of the Ethical Consumer Group's submission for the Food Labelling Review, due on Friday 14th May, we have put together this quick survey to assess what are the important issues for you in making an informed choice about your food purchases. We hope to ascertain: 1) consumer concerns in relation to adequate labelling of food products, and 2) the usefulness of present labelling.
Please take a minute to fill in our survey. [source]
New online database now includes Alcohol and Office Supplies 16th Feb 2010 — We've also completed a major upgrade of our assessment data, and introduced a more detailed ratings system. [source]
The Shop Ethical! iPhone app is now available 12th Feb 2010 — For those of you with an iPhone or iPod Touch, you can now get the Guide as an app! You'll never forget to bring the Guide to the supermarket again. [source]
The 2010 Guide to Ethical Supermarket Shopping is now available 10th Feb 2010 — To help you navigate through the issues connected to your everyday purchases, we’ve not only updated company information, but also added a more detailed rating system, new blurbs, and two new categories — Alcohol and Office Supplies. [source]
Campaigns / Victories
Bobby calf cruelty 31st Jan 2011 — Most people aren't aware that in order to produce milk, dairy cows are kept almost continually pregnant. Each year in Australia 700,000 unwanted calves (known as ''bobby calves'') are sent to slaughter in their first week of life so that milk can be harvested for human consumption. Now the industry wants to legalise the withholding of liquid food from these unwanted calves for the last 30 hours of their lives as they are trucked and prepared for slaughter. Visit the Animals Australia website to see how you can help. [source]
Safe Sunscreen Guide update 3rd Dec 2010 — Friends of the Earth Australia have released their latest Safe Sunscreen Guide. Some sunscreens sold in Australia have the potential to cause skin damage. They contain tiny particles (nanoparticles) which have not undergone safety testing and are not labelled. Which brands are nano-free? [source]
Australia to go sow stall free by 2017. 18th Nov 2010 — The Australian pig industry announced plans to phase out sow stalls by 2017. This follows Coles' announcement to phase out sow-stall pork products, including ham and bacon, from Australian and overseas suppliers by 2014. [source]
Greenpeace update their Canned Tuna Guide 16th Jul 2010 — Greenpeace's updated Canned Tuna Guide reveals which brands to buy, and which brands still source overfished species or use destructive fishing techniques. Since Greenpeace launched their first tuna ranking, Australian tuna brands have started to clean up their act. For the first time, Australians can buy a sustainable canned tuna brand – Fish4Ever. Aldi and IGA have introduced sustainable seafood policies. Tuna brands play a key role in the overfishing crisis by selling us unsustainable tuna.
[source]
Unilever commits to sustainable sourcing of paper packaging 5th Jul 2010 — Unilever has committed to sourcing 75 per cent of its paper and board packaging from sustainably managed forests or from recycled material by 2015, rising to 100 per cent by 2020. Unilever is the first global FMCG company to commit to sourcing all of its paper and board packaging from sustainably managed forests or recycled material within a clearly defined timeframe. [source]
Nestle's palm oil pledge 17th May 2010 — Following a two month campaign by Greenpeace, Nestle, the biggest food and drink company in the world, announced it was committing to stop using products that come from rainforest destruction. The new policy commits Nestle to identify and exclude companies from its supply chain that own or manage 'high risk plantations or farms linked to deforestation'. This would apply to notorious Sinar Mas, a palm oil and paper supplier that Greenpeace has repeatedly caught destroying the rainforest - if it fails to meet Nestle's new criteria - and also have implications for Cargill, one of Nestle's palm oil suppliers which purchases from Sinar Mas. [source]
Fairtrade Dairy Milk chocolate hits Australian shelves 8th Apr 2010 — In a huge milestone for the Fairtrade movement, Cadbury Dairy Milk milk chocolate is now Fairtrade Certified and starting to hit shelves across both Australia and New Zealand. However the new Fairtrade Dairy Milk will not contain only Fairtrade ingredients. Instead, Cadbury (owned by Kraft) purchases "an amount of Fairtrade Certified cocoa and sugar equivalent to that required to make the Cadbury Dairy Milk milk chocolate products carrying the Fairtrade Label". The end result for cocoa farmers in Ghana is the same either way. [source]
Greenpeace targets Nestle in palm oil campaign 17th Mar 2010 — Greenpeace launched a campaign in March 2010 asking Nestle to stop buying palm oil from Sinar Mas, who is trashing Indonesian rainforests, threatening the livelihoods of local people and pushing orang-utans towards extinction. [source]
Greenpeace release Canned Tuna Guide 5th Mar 2010 — The biggest selling seafood item in Australia is canned tuna. As supermarkets sell more and more of this profitable product, tuna stocks are in a critical condition. Supermarkets play a key role in the overfishing crisis by selling us overfished tuna. It's time they take responsibility. Greenpeace's Canned Tuna Guide exposes the supermarkets selling us overfished species or using destructive fishing techniques. [source]
Green & Black's to go Fairtrade in 2010 28th Jan 2010 — Green & Black's has announced plans to go Fairtrade Certified across most of its block chocolate and beverages range this year [more]. Soon after this announcement, Cadbury (who own Green & Black's) was bought by Kraft. It is unknown whether Kraft will continue with Cadbury's push to increase it's range of Fairtrade chocolate. [source]
Unilever palm oil victory 11th Dec 2009 — Unilever has altered it's palm oil supply chain after Greenpeace presented them with a new report on Sinar Mas, an Indonesian conglomerate with extensive interests in both the palm oil and pulp and paper sectors. A Unilever spokesman said that the claims were 'too serious for us to ignore' and they have stopped buying palm oil from Sinar Mas. [source]
WWF Palm Oil Buyers Scorecard 2009 28th Oct 2009 — From lipstick to ice cream, and even some breads and biscuits, palm oil is used in a variety of products we purchase every day. But the true cost of palm oil is being paid in high-biodiversity tropical rainforests, which continue to be cleared for ever expanding oil palm plantations. WWF's Scorecard is an assessment of the palm oil purchasing practices of major European companies that produce and sell everyday consumer products. [source]
2010 Truefood Guide 28th Oct 2009 — Greenpeace Australia have released the new 2010 Truefood Guide. It includes even more food and beverage brands, as well as incorporating the alcoholic beverages edition we launched earlier this year. It also sees leading brands Nestle, Foster's, Schweppes and Lindt shift to GE-free. [source]
Nestle boycott over Mugabe averted 4th Oct 2009 — The South African civil rights initiative, AfriForum, launched an international campaign calling on people to boycott all Nestle products, unless Nestle decided by 7 October 2009 to stop buying milk from Grace Mugabe ? wife of the Zimbabwean dictator, Robert Mugabe. From 4 October 2009, Nestle stopped buying any milk from Grace Mugabe. [source]
Cadbury Dairy Milk to go Fairtrade in 2010 26th Aug 2009 — Cadbury?s plans to achieve Fairtrade certification on their Dairy Milk chocolate by Easter 2010. The UK confectioner, which launched Fairtrade Dairy Milk in Britain and Ireland earlier this year, advised that they would extend their commitment to Australia, New Zealand, Japan and Canada. [source]
Cadbury takes palm oil out 17th Aug 2009 — Consumers secured an important victory with Cadbury reversing its previous decision to put palm oil in its dairy milk chocolate. This will include all dairy milk chocolate made in Australia and New Zealand. [source]
Palm oil labelling campaign 16th Aug 2009 — Zoos Victoria has launched it's Don't Palm Us Off campaign, which is pushing for Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) to change legislation to have palm oil labelled on all food products. Sign the petition here to tell FSANZ that you want the choice! [source]
Greenpeace Ends Its "Kleercut" Campaign - Kimberley-Clark Boycott is over! 5th Aug 2009 — Kimberly-Clark, the largest tissue company in the world and maker of Kleenex and Huggies, has committed to sourcing 100% of the wood fiber for its products from environmentally responsible sources. By the end of 2011 Kimberly-Clark will no longer use any pulp cut from endangered forests; instead they will increase the company?s use of FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) certified pulp and recycled fiber globally. [source]
Bottled Water Alliance victories 9th Jul 2009 — The Bottled Water Alliance is an Australian campaign run by "Do Something", aimed at reducing bottled water use in Australia. Recent victories include:* NSW Government is to place a ban on all agencies and departments buying bottled water.* The NSW rural town, Bundanoon, has become Australia's first bottled water free town. [source]
Ownership Changes
Woolworths buys 31 hotels in NSW, including pokies 21st Dec 2011 — Woolworths' hospitality arm ALH Group has signed long-term leases and acquired the businesses and associated assets of 31 hotels and one detached bottleshop in NSW for $500 million from the Laundy, Waugh and De Angelis groups. The deal also strengthens Woolworths' position as the country's biggest owner-operator of poker machines, lifting the number of machines under its control to 13,480. [source]
Foster's bought by SABMiller 1st Dec 2011 — Foster’s shareholders voted on 1 Dec 2011, over 99% in favour, to end 100 years of Australian ownership when they approved the sale of the company the world's second largest brewer, SABMiller. Brewing operation are to remain in Australia. SABMiller will also acquire the remaining 50 per cent of Pacific Beverages owned by Coca-Cola Amatil. All of Australia’s major breweries except Coopers are now foreign owned. [source]
Bright Foods buys 75% of Manassen Foods 30th Nov 2011 — On 30th November 2011 Manassen Foods Group was acquired by Bright Foods Group Holdings Pty Ltd, which is 75% owned by Bright Foods of China, one of China’s largest food companies. [source]
Primo Smallgoods sold to private equity firm 19th Oct 2011 — Hong Kong-based private equity firm Affinity Equity Partners bought a 70% stake of Australia's Primo Smallgoods in Oct 2011, with Primo's founders, the Lederer family, holding the remaining 30%. [source]
Asahi buys NZ's Independent Liquor 18th Aug 2011 — Hot on the heels of the purchases of the juice business of P&N Beverages, and New Zealand drinks maker Charlie's Group (maker of Phoenix soft drinks), Asahi has announced it is also acquiring NZ's largest maker of ready-to-drink alcoholic beverages, Independent Liquor, for $1.2bn. [source]
Asahi to buy P&N's juice business + Charlie's 16th Aug 2011 — Japan's Asahi Group has agreed to buy the mineral water and juice business of P&N Beverages for $188 million, and has bought New Zealand drinks maker Charlie's Group (maker of Phoenix soft drinks). Asahi’s bid to buy all of P&N earlier this year was blocked by the ACCC. Asahi is Kirin’s main rival in Japan in the beer/beverages sector. The ACCC has approved the revised deal. [source]
Australian Paper buys Australian Envelopes 9th Aug 2011 — Envotec, which previously traded as Australian Envelopes, was Australia's largest envelope manufacturer until it ceased operations after being placed into administration on 30 June 2011. It was acquired by Japanese owned Australian Paper soon afterwards. The ACCC is reviewing the purchase. [source]
Parmalat sold to Lactalis 14th Jul 2011 — French dairy giant Lactalis has acquired 83% of Italian owned Parmalat after a lengthy ownership battle. Lactalis claims the purchase makes it the world's biggest milk group. Parmalat is a major player in Australia's dairy industry. [source]
Bead Foods sold to Agro Farma 1st Jul 2011 — (AUST >> FOREIGN) US yoghurt makers Agro Farma has acquired Australia’s Bead Foods, maker of Gippsland Dairy and Rowena choc-tops. [source]
SABMiller bid to acquire Foster’s 23rd Jun 2011 — The United Kingdom's SAB Miller plans to buyout Australia's largest brewer, the Foster's Group (formerly Carlton and United Breweries) for $A 12.22 billion. The deal would partly put the London-listed brewer in a strategic position to grab the market from Belgium-based Anheuser-Busch inBev. [source]
