Australia politics live: NSW supreme court overturns Minns government attempt to prevent Rising Tide climate protest | Australia news

That’s it for today, thanks for reading. Here are the main stories of the day:

We will see you back again for more news tomorrow.

Here’s the response in parliament to news that a Melbourne teen had died after suspected methanol poisoning in Laos:

Catie McLeod

Coles CEO tells inquiry supermarket sector is competitive

During today’s hearing of the ACCC’s inquiry into supermarkets, the Coles chief executive officer, Leah Weckert, repeatedly insisted that the sector was competitive.

At first, Weckert denied that Coles and its main competitor, Woolworths, were effectively offering the same product at the same – or very similar – prices.

Under questioning from the counsel assisting the inquiry, Naomi Sharp SC, Weckert conceded that “quite often there will be large numbers of products which are the same price in a single week”.

Sharp asked Weckert if there were “really incentives for Coles to compete vigorously with Woolworths on price?”

Weckert replied:

We would say competing on price and value is an absolute cornerstone of ours … so yes, it’s critically important to us.

Weckert acknowledged that Woolworths and Coles controlled 67% of the Australian market but said there were other “significant” competitors including Aldi and Amazon.

Amazon does not have a grocery delivery service available in Australia but it does sell a range of other dry goods and household products.

Catie McLeod

Coles CEO says a third of all supermarket sales are of products on price promotions

Back at the ACCC inquiry, the Coles chief executive officer, Leah Weckert, has said a third of all of the company’s supermarket sales are of products that are on price promotions.

The Coles chief commercial officer, Anna Croft, said promotions were often placed on staple items such as dishwashing tablets, or “more impulsive products” such as chips and soft drinks.

She said:

You would see a higher proportion of promotions in impulse but we would run promotions across all categories in the supermarket.

There is a variety of promotions that would be relevant for different product types.

Separately to its inquiry, the ACCC has commenced proceedings in the federal court against both Coles and Woolworths for allegedly breaching consumer law by misleading shoppers through discount pricing claims on hundreds of common supermarket products.

The ACCC’s allegations relate to products sold by each of Woolworths and Coles at regular long-term prices which the regulator alleges remained the same – excluding short-term specials – for at least six months and in many cases for at least a year.

The consumer watchdog alleges these items were subject to price rises of at least 15% for brief periods.

The items were then placed in Woolworths’ “Prices Dropped” promotion and Coles’ “Down Down” promotion, the ACCC alleges, at prices lower than during the price spike but higher than, or the same as, the regular price that applied beforehand.

Some lovely photos from Mike Bowers of Bill Shorten’s valedictory speech earlier today.

Catie McLeod

Coles acknowledges ‘hidden form’ of inflation

The Coles chief commercial officer, Anna Croft, has acknowledged that so-called “shrinkflation” is a “hidden form” of inflation and conceded that the supermarket giant has ultimate control over retail prices.

As Guardian Australia has previously reported, food companies have been regularly reducing the size of their products but neither they nor the supermarkets have reduced retail prices, under a practice known as shrinkflation.

Croft and other senior Coles executives have been giving evidence to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s supermarkets inquiry today, where they were asked about the practice.

Croft said very few Coles products had been subject to shrinkflation but it would be open to measures to increase transparency, as long as these were imposed across the supermarket industry.

She said:

We would definitely want this to be an industry solution.

Because we’re very conscious under our obligations under the grocery code that we wouldn’t want to do anything that would impact the sales of our … suppliers’ products as a result of putting the signage up on the shelf.

Counsel assisting the inquiry, Naomi Sharp SC, put to Croft that it was “fair to describe shrinkflation as a hidden form of inflation, isn’t it?”

Croft replied: “I think that would be fair.”

Sharp then put to Croft that Coles had “some control” over shrinkflation as it could set the retail prices it wanted and did not have to adhere to suppliers’ recommendations.

“Yes. We do set the retail price,” Croft replied.

At the ACCC inquiry earlier this month, the Australian Food and Grocery Council chief executive officer, Tanya Barden, defended the practice of shrinkflation.

She said it was a “difficult decision” for manufacturers and not one they took lightly.

Caitlin Cassidy

Five recent heroin overdoses in New South Wales have been linked to people using drugs thought to be cocaine, prompting NSW Health to sound the alarm over the dangers of recreational drugs increasingly being laced with potentially lethal opioids.

Medical director of the NSW Poisons Information Centre, Dr Darren Roberts, said all five people were hospitalised after the use of substances they thought to be cocaine, with two requiring intensive care.

A heroin overdose could quickly result from a single line. One of the dangers of illicit drug supply is the contents and strength of the substance you are getting is unknown and can be inconsistent. Opioids such as heroin can be sold as or found in cocaine, methamphetamine, and MDMA (ecstasy). You cannot always tell the difference between these drugs by appearance.

Roberts said people who used drugs such as cocaine, methamphetamine, MDMA or opioids should carry naloxone due to the risk of overdoses – a life-saving medication that reverses the effects of opioids.

The overdoses follow two recent deaths from heroin in September after users took what they thought was cocaine at a house party in Sydney’s inner west.

NSW supreme court overturns Minns government attempt to prevent climate protest

Lisa Cox

The NSW supreme court has set aside a Minns government decision to cut off access to Newcastle harbour to try to prevent a four day climate protest.

The court found the notice was invalid after hearing an urgent application from climate activist organisation Rising Tide on Thursday.

Rising Tide argued the four-day marine exclusion zone commencing at 5pm Thursday was an improper use of a section of the Marine Safety Act, which was intended to ensure special events proceed safely – not to prevent them from taking place at all.

Justice Sarah McNaughton accepted these arguments, telling the court that although lawyers acting on behalf of the transport minister Jo Haylen made “skilful submissions”, the wording of the relevant section was not designed to “prohibit the special event it purports to be regulating”.

McNaughton noted that while she had quashed the notice for the exclusion zone – which could have meant on the spot fines of up to $1,100 for anyone who breached it – this did not mean certain activities by Rising Tide organisers would be lawful.

This is because police did not approve the protesters’ form 1 application, meaning they are not protected from being charged under obstruction and unlawful assembly offences if they block the waterway.

Rising Tide plaintiff Alexa Stuart said:

“The NSW government was attempting to criminalise peaceful protest, but the real criminals here are the coal and gas companies who are continuing to put profit above all else and burn my future and the futures of all young people.”

Emily Wind

Many thanks for joining me on the blog today, as we wrap up the second-last sitting week of the year. Nino Bucci will be here to bring you the rest of our rolling coverage.

Sydney train strike called off

Elias Visontay

A chaotic two-day shutdown of Sydney’s train network has been averted at the 11th hour, after the state government caved to rail union demands to run 24-hour services to prevent workers striking.

Sydney train services had been set to stop running early on Friday morning, as part of a Rail, Tram and Bus Union (RTBU) work ban which was set to lift on Sunday morning.

However, last-ditch talks between New South Wales premier Chris Minns, transport minister Jo Haylen and RTBU secretary Toby Warnes led to an agreement that will see the union call off the strike that was set to affect all train services in the Sydney city network over a busy two-day period.

Guardian Australia understands the government has agreed to run 24-hour services over the two-day period, caving to a union demand that had become a bargaining chip as it sought to force action on the wider improved pay and conditions it was seeking from the government.

In case you missed it this afternoon, our climate and environment editor Adam Morton has published new analysis from Cop29 in Baku – where Australia’s plan to host a major UN climate summit in 2026 has hit a Turkish roadblock

You can read the full analysis below: