Albanese urges UAE grocery giant Lulu to enter Australian market
Tom McIlroy
Anthony Albanese is wrapping up his 11-day visit to the US, the UK and the Middle East, with a stop in Abu Dhabi, where he has held talks with the president of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
On Monday, the prime minister celebrated the new UAE-Australia free trade agreement coming into force this week and met Yusuff Ali, the chair of the Lulu Group, a major supermarket business in the Middle East.
Lulu sells large amounts of Australian products, including grocery items, fresh fruit and vegetables and meat.
Ali is a grocery mogul and owns stores in countries including India, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait, Indonesia and Qatar.
Albanese said he had urged him to bring the Lulu brand to Australia, to help drive competition against duopoly retailers Coles and Woolworths.
“I want to see more competition. That’s one of the things that it can bring,” Albanese said.
“This is a significant company. They are the largest throughout the Middle East. They’re the second-largest in Saudi Arabia.
“We know that Aldi, of course, have come to Australia, and this is a significant player that has an engagement with Australia, and of course I want to see more competition.”
Key events
Communications minister will ‘lay down the law’ with Optus’ parent company after triple-zero outages
The federal government will “lay down the law” with Optus after two triple-zero outages on its network when the minister responsible sits down with its majority shareholder, AAP reports.
Communications minister Anika Wells will hold talks today with Singtel officials, who are in Sydney this week.
The meeting was confirmed by another cabinet minister, Murray Watt. Watt moved to reassure Australians about the triple-zero service, while acknowledging many are “really concerned”. He told Nine’s Today:
I’m very confident that Anika will really lay down the law to the parent company CEO. She’s obviously already had discussions with Optus themselves, but escalating that now to the parent company demonstrates how seriously we are taking this.
We want to make sure that if people want to ring (triple zero) through the Optus system, that it’s going to work and Optus has got to deliver to Australians.
RBA expected to leave rates on hold today
Luca Ittimani
The Reserve Bank is widely expected to leave interest rates on hold this afternoon, as economists search for hints of whether another cut will come this year.
Risks of resurgent inflation mean mortgage holders are not expected to see any further rate relief at least until the RBA’s next meeting in November, if not later.
Consumer price growth accelerated to 3% in the year to August, at the top of the RBA’s preferred range, according to monthly data released on Wednesday. When the bank cut rates nearly two months ago, available data put it at just 1.9%.
The RBA has warned monthly numbers are unreliable but the data’s release erased hopes of a cut today and has weakened economists’ certainty in a November cut. Commonwealth Bank, Westpac and ANZ each expect a cash rate cut in November, but economists including CBA’s Harry Ottley say it’s “not a done deal”.
Financial markets don’t have another rate cut priced in until March 2026, while NAB doesn’t expect one until May.
The RBA will confirm today’s decision at 2:30pm and we’ll learn more about when another cut could come at 3:30pm, when the governor, Michele Bullock, addresses reporters.
Good morning, Nick Visser here to take over the blog baton from Martin Farrer. Let’s jump in.
Hastie comments show ‘strength of Liberals’, says Ted O’Brien
The shadow treasurer, Ted O’Brien, has defended his rumoured leadership-hungry colleague Andrew Hastie, saying the latter’s spate of comments on everything from immigration to net zero shows the “strength” of the Liberal party.
Citing Hastie’s social media posts and “strategic interviews”, ABC 7.30’s host Sarah Ferguson asked O’Brien if he found it “acceptable for a member of the shadow cabinet to promote his leadership ambitions so publicly”.
O’Brien said that he rejected that, arguing it was the role of opposition to formulate policy.
Under the Labor party’s rules, you shut up, you do as you’re told. You never see Labor MPs doing what Liberal MPs do, speaking their mind – robust debate.
Ferguson put to O’Brien that Hastie had described the anonymous colleagues that denounced him as “cowards and muppets”, and asked whether the shadow treasurer was among that faceless cohort.
“Well, no,” O’Brien responded, before continuing that Hastie and others were “debating the issues that matter to Australians” under “Sussan [Ley]’s leadership”.
Remember what Sussan said upfront when she took the leadership, that’s the need for us to listen, the need for us to debate, we take our time to get policy right.
I’m in no way defensive of that. In fact, I think it’s a strength of the Liberal party.”
Tom McIlroy
Albanese discusses Gaza conflict with UAE president
While in the UAE, Anthony Albanese met with the president, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, and discussed the conflict in Gaza.
The UAE has been involved in ceasefire talks coordinated by the United States, and Albanese’s visit comes as some partner countries see cause for optimism about the possibility of ending the fighting between Israel and Hamas.
Albanese said the pair would compare notes.
“I don’t want to foreshadow all of the detail, but you would expect the answer to be yes, because this is an issue for the Middle East,” he said ahead of the meeting.
Just as I had discussions with the king of Jordan, when I was there, the head of state in New York, certainly the Arab League and the role that they’re playing in pursuing peace is very important.
The prime minister said he was hopeful a ceasefire could be agreed, noting optimistic comments from US president Donald Trump.
He’s someone who has been an advocate for peace and we’ll await that. But the world wants to see a ceasefire, wants to see the hostages released, wants to see aid into Gaza, but they also want to talk about the day after and in that that’s why the world also wants to see progress towards a two-state solution.
Albanese urges UAE grocery giant Lulu to enter Australian market
Tom McIlroy
Anthony Albanese is wrapping up his 11-day visit to the US, the UK and the Middle East, with a stop in Abu Dhabi, where he has held talks with the president of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
On Monday, the prime minister celebrated the new UAE-Australia free trade agreement coming into force this week and met Yusuff Ali, the chair of the Lulu Group, a major supermarket business in the Middle East.
Lulu sells large amounts of Australian products, including grocery items, fresh fruit and vegetables and meat.
Ali is a grocery mogul and owns stores in countries including India, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait, Indonesia and Qatar.
Albanese said he had urged him to bring the Lulu brand to Australia, to help drive competition against duopoly retailers Coles and Woolworths.
“I want to see more competition. That’s one of the things that it can bring,” Albanese said.
“This is a significant company. They are the largest throughout the Middle East. They’re the second-largest in Saudi Arabia.
“We know that Aldi, of course, have come to Australia, and this is a significant player that has an engagement with Australia, and of course I want to see more competition.”
Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Martin Farrer with the top overnight stories and then it’ll be Nick Visser to take the tiller.
Anthony Albanese has held talks with the president of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, on the final day of his 11-day trip taking in the US, UK and the Gulf. Discussions have included trying to persuade a big Arab grocery chain to open in Australia to encourage competition. More in a minute.
The shadow treasurer, Ted O’Brien, has defended his colleague Andrew Hastie from criticisms about his recent outspoken comments on policy. More coming up.
