Coles has appointed lawyer Jenny Linsten as its code arbiter in accordance with the Food and Grocery Code of Conduct. She replaces Jeff Kennett who had been in the role for almost 10 years and will start on 15 February.
As the code arbiter, Linsten will investigate and resolve disputes between Coles and merchandise suppliers and provide ongoing feedback and recommendations to improve its practices.
Linsten has more than 30 years’ legal and commercial experience, including as general counsel and company secretary of the Ford Motor Company of Australia, a lawyer at Clayton Utz, and principal of her own legal advisory practice, Jenny Linsten Legal.
Coles Group CEO Leah Weckert said: “Jenny brings a wealth of experience from the legal and commercial sectors, and we look forward to working with her from February.
“We strive to build and sustain strong, long-term partnerships with our suppliers. The independent model, supported by the Code Arbiter, is an important mechanism to ensure trust and transparency throughout the grocery sector and is an avenue for suppliers to address any issues.”
Linsten said Coles had shown leadership on dispute resolution and the code.
“Coles’ ongoing commitment to an independent dispute resolution process gives suppliers and the public confidence that concerns are being heard and acted upon. I look forward to meeting and hearing from Coles’ suppliers through my role as Code Arbiter.”
Coles said it was the first supermarket retailer to adopt an independent arbitration process to help resolve commercial disputes and was a foundation signatory for the Food and Grocery Conduct Code in 2015.
Kennett was Coles’ independent arbiter from 2014, then took on the code arbiter role under the revised code in 2020.
“We would like to thank Jeff for his contribution over the past 10 years and throughout the Code’s evolution, and for his part in enacting a robust, fair and timely supplier dispute resolution process,” Weckert said.
Craig Emerson appointed independent reviewer
The voluntary industry code sets out standards of business conduct between grocery retailers and their suppliers.
In October last year, the federal government announced its second review of the Food and Grocery Code.
On 10 January, former federal labour minister Dr Craig Emerson was appointed as the independent reviewer.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said consumers had been a key priority for the government and put supermarkets on notice.
“We have been clear – if the price for meat and fruit and vegetables is going down at the farm gate then families should be seeing cheaper prices on supermarket shelves too.
“Supermarkets have a duty to make sure they’re providing affordable options for all Australians, especially when they’re making savings on their own costs,” Albanese said.
Agriculture minister Murray Watt weighed in saying some of the prices supermarkets are charging don’t “pass the pub test”.
“[T]he ball is in the court of the big retailers. They don’t have to wait until this review is finalised to drop their prices, they can do that right now to help Australian families doing it tough,” Watt said.
The National Farmers Federation (NFF) said it hoped the review would “give the code the teeth it needs to fix a system failing consumers and farmers”.
NFF president David Jochinke said, “The code is failing farmers and we’ve said for a long time it should be made mandatory.
“We need to get to the bottom of why there’s a growing gap between what farmers get paid and what produce is being sold for on supermarket shelves.
“It’s not just supermarkets we need answers from, we need to know who else in the supply chain is clipping the ticket and sending food prices skywards.”
More information and the terms of reference for the review are here.
