Dutton must explain Woolies boycott: PM

Original article by Sarah Ison
The Australian – Page: 3 : 16-Jan-24

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says Opposition leader Peter Dutton needs to clarify his stance on Woolworths after the retail giant advised that it will not stock Australia Day-themed merchandise. Albanese says Dutton should specify whether his call to boycott Woolworths is only meant to apply until after the national holiday or should be ongoing. Albanese adds that the boycott would presumably also apply to Kmart and Aldi, and notes that the three retailers collectively employ about 200,000 people, so Dutton should explain the impact of his proposed boycott on their jobs.

CORPORATES
WOOLWORTHS GROUP LIMITED – ASX WOW, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, KMART AUSTRALIA LIMITED, ALDI STORES SUPERMARKETS PTY LTD

Pro-Palestine business boycott condemned

Original article by Patrick Durkin
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 4 : 9-Nov-23

The Stand For Palestine group has been criticised for launching a social media campaign urging Australians to boycott local retailers that have tenuous links to Israel. The companies that have been targeted include Chemist Warehouse and Spotlight Group, which were both founded by the offspring of Jewish migrants. Australian entrepreneur Paul Bassat says these businesses are being boycotted simply because they are owned by Jews, while Arnold Bloch Leibler partner Mark Leibler has described the campaign as "pure unadulterated antisemitism".

CORPORATES
CHEMIST WAREHOUSE, SPOTLIGHT GROUP HOLDINGS PTY LTD

Senator dubs Morrison plan attack on democracy

Original article by Andrew Tillett
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 7 : 6-Nov-19

The federal government requires the support of four Senate crossbenchers for its legislative crackdown on protestors who engage in secondary boycotts that target mining companies. However, the proposed legislation has been criticised by Centre Alliance senator Rex Patrick, who has expressed concern about the increasing erosion of civil liberties under the Coalition. Labor and the Greens also oppose the legislation.

CORPORATES
CENTRE ALLIANCE, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIAN GREENS, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, FOREST PRODUCTS ASSOCIATION, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET

New Hope blasts loophole for activists

Original article by Brad Thompson
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 15 : 23-Sep-19

New Hope Corporation’s CEO Shane Stephan has called for the abolition of laws that exempt environmental activists from penalties for engaging in secondary boycotts. He says it is not right that anti-coal activists can target suppliers to the mining industry with action that would otherwise be illegal under the Competition and Consumer Act. New Hope recently advised that 150 workers at its New Acland mine will be retrenched at the end of October. A proposed $900m expansion of the mine has been on hold for more than a decade.

CORPORATES
NEW HOPE CORPORATION LIMITED – ASX NHC, WASHINGTON H SOUL PATTINSON AND COMPANY LIMITED – ASX SOL, ADANI MINING PTY LTD

Media could sue secretive activists

Original article by Brad Norington
The Australian – Page: 2 : 30-Oct-18

Sky News has been the main target of online activist group Sleeping Giants Oz, which has urged advertisers to boycott the pay-TV channel and other media companies that it has accused of promoting hate speech. However, legal experts have warned that there are a range of potential options for media companies if they elect to sue Sleeping Giants Oz, including for loss of earnings and damage to their trade or business. Matthew Collins QC notes that there is no defence of anonymous free speech in Australia.

CORPORATES
SKY NEWS AUSTRALIA, SLEEPING GIANTS OZ, SEVEN NETWORK LIMITED, SEVEN WEST MEDIA LIMITED – ASX SWM, 2GB, AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION, UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES, COLES SUPERMARKETS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, TELSTRA CORPORATION LIMITED – ASX TLS, FUJITSU AUSTRALIA LIMITED, HYUNDAI AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, MITSUBISHI CORPORATION, SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, KFC

Anti-Sky activists hide behind Twitter

Original article by Darren Davidson
The Australian – Page: 24 : 10-Sep-18

There are claims that online activist group Sleeping Giants is using fake Twitter accounts to promote an advertising boycott against Sky News. Sleeping Giants asserts Sky is providing opinionated broadcasting on urban train networks, but Sky is only contracted to supply brief news, weather and sports updates. Sleeping Giant began its campaign against Sky after the broadcasting of an interview with far-right activist Blair Cottrell. Cottrell has a presence on Facebook and Twitter, but Sleeping Giants has not sought to target them.

CORPORATES
SLEEPING GIANTS, SKY NEWS, FACEBOOK INCORPORATED, TWITTER INCORPORATED, QANTAS AIRWAYS LIMITED – ASX QAN, VICTORIA. DEPT OF PREMIER AND CABINET

PayPal faces boycott over lack of services in Palestine

Original article by Andrew Tillett
The Australian Financial Review – Page: Online : 3-Jan-18

The Australian Palestinian Advocacy Network (APAN) has urged Australians to boycott online payments provider Paypal. It accuses Paypal of engaging in "online apartheid" by providing its services to Israelis but not to Palestinians living in Gaza and the West Bank, even though they use the same currency, the Israeli shekel. PayPal states its lack of service to Palestine is not politically motivated, but that there are certain compliance and regulatory issues that need to be addressed before it can provide its service to Palestinians.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN PALESTINIAN ADVOCACY NETWORK, PAYPAL INCORPORATED, ACTION AID

Woolworths facing union boycott threat

Original article by David Marin-Guzman
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 6 : 29-Nov-17

The New South Wales branch of the National Union of Workers has called on consumers to boycott Woolworths in the lead-up to Christmas. This follows the supermarket chain’s decision to stand down union delegates in early November over alleged breaches of safety rules. The delegates, who work at its Minchinbury warehouse, were stood down after allegedly telling other workers to take off their protective vests, in protest at the alleged bullying of staff there by a manager. A Woolworths spokesperson says it hopes to conclude an investigation into the matter in the week ending 2 December.

CORPORATES
NATIONAL UNION OF WORKERS, WOOLWORTHS LIMITED – ASX WOW, UNILEVER AUSTRALIA LIMITED, CARLTON AND UNITED BREWERIES

Unions might take to Streets – and find a dead end

Original article by Niki Savva
The Australian – Page: 14 : 26-Oct-17

Production of Streets ice creams in Australia may be at risk if Unilever fails in its bid to have an enterprise agreement terminated. It has told the Fair Work Commission that the Streets factory in the Sydney suburb of Minto has significantly higher operating costs than most of its plants worldwide. Minto employees are also paid 25 per cent more than the average wage in Australia. ACTU secretary Sally McManus has proposed a boycott of Streets products, but Unilever Australia CEO Clive Stiff has warned that it could prompt Unilever to cease local manufacturing. He adds that Peters would almost certainly do so as well.

CORPORATES
UNILEVER AUSTRALIA LIMITED, UNILEVER PLC, ACTU, AUSTRALIAN MANUFACTURING WORKERS’ UNION, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF EMPLOYMENT, GM HOLDEN LIMITED, CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN WORKERS’ UNION-FEDERATION OF INDUSTRIAL, MANUFACTURING AND ENGINEERING EMPLOYEES, AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL POLICE, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET

GetUp! and go, Xenophon tells APC’s McGrath

Original article by Mitchell Bingemann
The Australian – Page: 10 : 7-Jun-17

Independent senator Nick Xenophon says the Australian Press Council’s independence has been undermined by the appointment of GetUp chair Carla McGrath to its board. He says McGrath should resign, as she cannot be a board member of both the APC and the political activist group. The APC has responded to a boycott of its rulings by leading newspapers by issuing a statement in which it stresses that McGrath will not adjudicate any complaints against publishers in which there is the potential for a conflict of interests.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN PRESS COUNCIL, GETUP LIMITED, NICK XENOPHON TEAM, MEDIA, ENTERTAINMENT AND ARTS ALLIANCE, AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION, NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS, DAILY MAIL AUSTRALIA