Coles is disappointed cost of living is being “politicised”, speculating inquiries into the supermarket have been set up to deflect concerns about inflation.

The grocery giant was well aware consumers were facing economic pressures and was continually seeking to rebuild customer trust, chairman James Graham told shareholders.

“In this context it has been disappointing to see how cost-of-living issues have been politicised and targeted at supermarket operations,” he told the company’s annual general meeting on Tuesday.

Coles and rival Woolworths have been in the sights of politicians and the consumer watchdog after a damaging year for the sector’s reputation.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission launched legal action against the chains in September, alleging they misled shoppers by substantially raising prices before marginally lowering them on hundreds of popular products and passing it off as a discount.

But Mr Graham said the fluctuations were the result of price rises from suppliers and not a deliberate attempt to fleece consumers.

“The matters raised by the ACCC relate to a period of significant inflation leading to a sharply increasing level of supplier cost price increases,” he said.

“The subsequent discounts offered to customers on these items were the result of promotional investment by the supplier and Coles which delivered a reduction in the shelf price at a time when households were under significant cost-of-living pressure.”

Coles and Woolworths together control about two thirds of the grocery sector and have been accused by a separate Senate inquiry of abusing their market power to the detriment of shoppers and suppliers.

The coalition has threatened to introduce laws that would allow the major chains to be forcibly broken up.

In response to a question from a shareholder about how Coles was working to minimise regulatory risks, Mr Graham said the company was committed to ensuring all parts of the business did the right thing.

“We are fully co-operating with all of the inquiries that are being undertaken,” he said.

“But I do think there has been a wider ambition of some behind those inquiries to seek to perhaps provide answers to more difficult issues which have been arising from … inflation.”

Chief executive Leah Weckert said Coles was concerned by a rising trend of front-line staff being threatened over the past 12 to 18 months.

“We are working with industry to address this worrying trend happening across many retailers, while continuing to roll out de-escalation training to our team members to help reduce the number and severity of incidents,” she said.

Mr Graham said Coles had implemented technology such as cameras and gates at checkouts to kerb theft and threatening behaviour, but the issue was not going to go away with people still under pressure.

Shareholders voted down a resolution to stop sourcing farmed salmon from Tasmania’s Macquarie Harbour, where aquaculture practices threaten the existence of the Maugean skate, a prehistoric fish estimated to number between 40 to 120 in the wild.

Peter George, president of environmental advocates Neighbours of Fish Farming, said Coles had been put on notice but he applauded the company for at least promising to reduce the amount of salmon sourced from the harbour.

“They’ve been given an opportunity to act to save an extinction and the health of the harbour, they can’t deny they didn’t know about it,” he told AAP.

Shareholders also called on Coles to follow the other major supermarkets and stop sourcing beef that contributed to deforestation.

“While most beef producers in Australia are doing the right thing, it’s time for Coles to have their back and buy beef from deforestation-free farms,” Australian Conservation Foundation CEO Kelly O’Shanassy said

 

Jacob Shteyman
(Australian Associated Press)