Is It Time To Flick The CEO Of Woolies Along With Their Politically Motivated Management?

OPINION: Australia Day is over, and the Woolworths brand is seriously tarnished, but what is not over, is the debate as to whether it’s time for the South African born CEO of Woolworths Brad Banducci to quit, along with senior management who made the decision to push foreign foods and Chinese and Indian national holidays ahead of Australia Day, while inflaming the debate over Australia’s future.

Described as a seriously woke agenda run retail operation who now believe they have a right to push political agenda’s, with  management appearing to be more interested in Aboriginal affairs, and other Countries national holidays than what Australians want.

“What about better prices” said one observer.

Some investors are asking how the current management team could get it so wrong with the dropping of Australia Day memorabilia when 60% of Australians recently voted NO to a change in the constitution and the latest option polls  reveal  that most Australians happy with the current status quo.

As one retailer said, “It appears that management who supported the YES vote are not listening to their customers and are pushing on with a woke agenda”.

“Research would have told Woolworths management that backing a YES agenda was high risk and a move that was clearly political”.

Many observers are now questioning whether it’s time for a management rethink at the big retailer, especially in the marketing and communications department where many of the promotion ideas at Woolworths are created and implemented.

This is a Company who claim that they listen to and care for their own staff, but it appears that management have not been reading their own internal online forum.

Disgruntled Woolworths staff have hit out at the supermarket’s divisive Australia Day stance, calling it ‘unbelievable’ and ‘disgusting’.

One staff member wrote, ‘Unbelievable that Australia Day was cancelled but we will celebrate Halloween and Chinese new year just to name a couple,’ another said.

‘Can you imagine a Chinese supermarket chain cancelling Chinese New Year but celebrating Australia Day? Australian CEOs need to stop playing politics/activism and get on with running the business.

‘People do not like to be told what to think by corporate Australia and politicians.’

Another said the stance was ‘increasing the divide’ between Australians over January 26. This appears to be a deliberate marketing ploy by Woolworths who have also been price gouging consumers resulting in the ACCC announcing an investigation into the actions of supermarkets in Australia.

Woolworths who tipped tens of thousands into funding a YES yote for a constitutional reform that would give aboriginals a say in all our lives, appear to have taken no notice of the fact that more than 60% of Australians voted No.

The company claim that they have collaborated with the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander team to develop an approach ‘that feels inclusive but also respectful’.

The Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council, supported by the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders are organisations that are using race and land claims to bolster the balance sheets of aboriginal organisations by lodging land claims for parks bowling clubs and prime land in places such as Mosman and Hunters Hill in NSW.

Some of this land is then being offered for sale to property developers.

“Why don’t they consult with Australia Day organisations in an effort to build respect for Australia Day” said one angry Queenslander in Broadbeach.

“The reason they don’t is because management are running a political agenda driven by ideologies that are radically different to most Australian. They are supporting woke organisations and radicals who are trying to destroy the very fabric of society that has made Australia great”.

When it was put to him that several key decision makers at Woolworths were South African, he said “You only have to look at the mess South Africa is in. We don’t want their mess here. What skills do aboriginals have to run Australia. If South Africa is an example of locals running a Country, then what we would be in for is high crime rates and a shocking economy”. “.

Australians have lived side by side with Aboriginal people for centuries, we tip billions into their welfare, we have support programs aimed at helping them develop businesses, only for these businesses to fail or the money has not been used for what it was intended” another person said.

One assumption is, that Woolworths management are working on the basis that the issue will blow over now that Australia day is over, I have news for you, it won’t as it’s exposed Woolworths as being more than a retailer who wants to sell goods.

Their customers are angry that Woolworths has inflamed a debate that is being driven by left wing radicals and people with vested interests, and the fact that they have entered the political arena with their support for a YES vote, what’s next a campaign to vote for Labor or the Greens.

Historian Geoffery Blainey who has written 400 books on Australian history recently wrote in the Australian that the latest opinion polls indicate that most voters do not wish to alter the date of Australia Day. A mere one third of voters wish to call it “Invasion Day”. Indeed, most people value the day and silently shun the Melbourne vandals who, this week, cut off the ankles from the statue of Captain Cook. These wreckers maybe are products of an education profession which, more than ever before, is inclined to denigrate its own nation.

2GB Radio Host Ben Fordham claims that the resounding No vote in The Voice referendum has triggered deeper division in the country and predicted it will spark a frightening backlash such as that seen against Woolworths this past week.

Fordham blamed the nation’s ‘p***-weak leaders’ for allowing the row to fester – and says Australians will fight back after being empowered by the referendum result.

It’s not known whether he included Woolworths management in this assessment, especially as  they tipped tens of thousands into supporting the YES vote that was overwhelmingly voted against by the bulk of Australians and their customers.

‘We have been acknowledging the ‘traditional owners and the leaders, past, present and emerging’ every 15 minutes,’ he said.

‘Why is it then that we’re not allowed to celebrate Australia Day on Australia Day?

‘Surely part of that transaction, if I can put it so crudely, should be, ‘Well, go for your life – celebrate Australia Day on January 26′. It seems to be a one way street.’

He blamed a lack of leadership for the growing crisis and called for a more hardline attitude from authorities.

‘We have leaders, Sam, who are p*** weak,’ he said in a phone call into the podcast.

‘You can’t try and convince the mob of something when the mob has made up its mind – and the mob has made up its mind on these things.

‘It’s going to be harder now to change some of the things like Australia Day off the back of the Voice going down last year.

‘Aussies have now got lived experience about standing up for themselves and not eating the s*** that they’ve been fed – and having a win at the end of the argument.

‘So that’s why, on things like Australia Day and whatever, they’ll be thinking, ‘No, we’re not going to buckle here. We’re going to fight back’.’