It is the busiest time of year for retailers across Australia, with many preparing for Black Friday and Cyber Monday to kickstart the busy Christmas season. 

Recently, our wonderful retail community came together to celebrate at the 2023 National Retail Awards. This sell-out event was headlined by keynote speaker CEO, Christine Holgate and sponsored by Latitude and Team Global Express. Thank you to Christine and our major sponsors for your incredible support.

Congratulations to the recipient of the Young Retailer of the Year award,
Chelsea Mostert of Supercheap Auto. Chelsea will have the opportunity to advocate on behalf of and work with leaders in the retail sector. The National Retail Awards acknowledge the innovation and achievements of retail businesses and individuals, like Chelsea. Congratulations to our winners and the nominees for your hard work and dedication.

Last week, we collectively launched the ‘No one deserves a serve’ campaign with the Shop, Distributive, and Allied Employees Association (SDA) and the Shopping Centre Council of Australia (SCCA) to mitigate aggression toward retail staff.

‘No one deserves a serve’ campaign ads will run for free, nationally, across digital media within shopping centres. As part of the campaign, workers across small and large retailers will be encouraged to report all incidents of abuse, violence, and retail crime, to police. You can read more about the campaign and access resources here. 

Last week, the National Retail Association’s Director of Policy, David Stout joined leaders from the quick-service and fast-food industries to discuss the latest industry trends, network, and collaborate, at the QSR Media Australia Conference and Awards. We look forward to continuing our work with industry representatives on issues impacting these critical sectors.

In two major legislative and policy announcements, the Palaszczuk Government will seek to introduce new laws to Parliament to restrict the sale of knives and other items to juveniles, in a commitment to protect the community and further combat knife crime and youth offending. The National Retail Association welcomes this announcement, and you can read more here.

In policy news, the NSW EPA has released a new discussion paper on single-use plastic items. You can read more about the discussion paper here. 

Have a great week ahead.