Coles has appointed former Victorian Premier Jeff Kennett to oversee compliance with the Food and Grocery Code of Conduct as part of an industry-wide rollout of the independent dispute resolution model.
The appointment builds on the role Mr Kennett has played as an independent arbiter under Coles' Supplier Charter since 2014 under which unresolved disputes between the supermarket giant and suppliers could be escalated to Mr Kennett for investigation with Coles bound by any resulting decisions including payment of up to $5 million.
Coles was the first Australian supermarket chain to adopt this independent arbitration process to help resolve commercial disputes and was also instrumental in the creation of the Food and Grocery Conduct Code becoming a foundation signatory in 2015.
Mr Kennett had been an outspoken critic of the supermarket giant, significantly over its misleading claims about the freshness of its "freshly baked" bread, later identified as an imported product.
Coles copped a $3 million fine for that misdemeanour after Mr Kennett complained to the ACCC about the false claims.
In an independent review of the code former ACCC chairman Graham Samuel said in 2018 that Coles' independent arbitration process had been praised by suppliers and recommended the code be amended to require all signatories to implement a similar process.
The Federal Government accepted the recommendation and has now amended the code to require all signatories to appoint an independent arbiter and grant them authority to enter into agreements with suppliers to settle disputes relating to the code up to $5 million.
Coles group chief commercial officer Greg Davis claimed the work Mr Kennett had done as independent arbiter for the supermarket chain since 2014 had been instrumental in transforming Coles' relationships with suppliers.
"We're committed to dealing fairly with our thousands of suppliers, and in cases where we haven't been able to resolve issues internally, our suppliers know that Jeff is there as a fair, independent and confidential point of escalation who will sort things out," he said.
Mr Kennett said the adoption of the independent arbitration model was a step forward for the entire supermarket sector and its relationships with suppliers.
"I thank Coles and the Australian Government for putting in place a non-legalistic system that Coles has had in place for a number of years now, that can quickly and confidentially deal with, and in the vast majority of cases resolve, disputes between suppliers and supermarkets," he said.