The ANF is claimed as a supporting organisation of the Association of Australian Retailers, a group that appears to have been established to support the interests of big tobacco. Read what sourcewatch says about the AAR. Read what tobacco tactics says.
AAR sent some newsagents a pack of materials to be used during the current federal election campaign – promoting Senator David Leyonhjelm, a politician who supports big tobacco.
I was alerted to AAR in a comment by Gregg on this blog:
We have just received a parcel from Alliance of Australian Retailers with a letter accompanying signed by a Chiang Lim General Manager. The parcel has flyers and posters promoting Senator David Leyonhjelm and his stance on Tobacco products.
I have just rewrapped and sent it back as a RTS. But who are Alliance of Australian Retailers and who is Chiang Lim?
Chiang Lim is a former General Manager of NANA, the NSW newsagent’s association. Chiang left the organisation quickly under an apparent cloud. Lim appeared before a parliamentary committee in March claiming his organisation represented 3,000 small business retailers including newsagents.
My name is Chiang Lim. I am the AAR’s general manager. Since 2011, the AAR has represented up to 3,000 small businesses across Australia and its member retailers. They include newsagents, corner stores, small supermarkets, mixed businesses and other independent retailers.
I would be interested to know whether newsagents have directly joined AAR or whether the claim of 3,000 is a leveraging of ANF member numbers and members of other organisations.
I am not an ANF member and so am not across their statements to members. It would be good to know if they have made any statement about involvement with AAR and whether any newsagent funds have been used in this federal election campaign.
This is important because Lim in his evidence to the parliamentary committee made claims on behalf of newsagents, claims for which I am not aware of any evidence:
Whether they are newsagents, corner stores, small supermarkets, mixed businesses and other independent retailers, these small business retailers are universally owned by families who have mortgaged their homes and tipped their life savings into the businesses. They rely on customers who buy not just tobacco products but other items in their shopping baskets. Since the introduction of plain packaging and cumulatively high excise taxes, these retailers now operate in a current environment where customers more than ever are actively seeking the cheapest available tobacco products, legal or otherwise, knowingly or unknowingly. With the loss of such customers to those who sell illicit tobacco, our small business retailers lose the sales of those many other items in those customers’ shopping baskets. They are putting at risk overall revenue, their profitability, their ability to employ staff, pay themselves, the future value of their businesses and not to mention their home mortgages that cover their businesses.
Anyone claiming to represent our channel needs to do so armed with irrefutable facts and to do so on issues about which those they claim to represent have been full consulted. I don’t think that has happened in this case.
If you are an ANF member and are concerned about this, contact them and ask for information about their involvement with the AAR – they are listed on the AAR website.
Just got my package. Binned it. Also emailed Lim to tell him it was binned and never send me unsolicited material again.
My business is for me to operate as I see fit, to put food on my table and a few dollars left over. It is not my job to advocate a political position from a person whose policies I abhor.
In fact, it is not my job to advocate any political position from any party. I do distribute material from my local (ALP) member, but only his community newsletter, never his partisan political leaflets. I would do the same if he is replaced by a politician of any other party, even The Libertarians, but only when it is community information.
I guess we should be thankful that the Senator wasted his money on supporting tobacco, rather than his other hobby horse, increasing gun violence in Australia.
A live question for those receiving the package is where did they get your address? The ANF?
I am not an ANF member, HOWEVER, I am a Hubbed outlet and the parcel was delivered via Hubbed. Now, I’m not saying there is a connection, but there sure are some dots to join.
I have tweeted about this to extend the reach of the discussion.
I am not a member of the ANF or the AAR yet today we received this garbage.
David Leyonhjelm has some pretty extreme views he will be last on my Senate paper.
We have been receiving emails from AAR for a while now. One can only speculate as to where they obtained our contact details.
The ANF needs to provide clarity by either confirming or denying any involvement
I haven’t been a member of the ANF since 2009. I have never had hubbed. I got the package.
This only applies to VANA members: with ANF affiliation now being optional instead of mandatory when you pay your VANA fees, do you intend to also remain a member of ANF.
I am thinking no but have not made a final decision yet.
In my opinion, regardless of what you think of VANA’s performance, they are infinitely better than ANF.