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Australian News
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Thursday, 27 March 2008 |
NSW Fair Trading Minister, Linda Burney, today alerted consumers to the national voluntary recall of brown coloured sunglasses which were distributed free of charge with the February edition of Marie Claire magazine.
Ms Burney said the sunglasses do not meet the lens performance requirements of the mandatory Australian safety standard for sunglasses and fashion spectacles (AS 1067:2003).
"Testing identified the glasses posed a vision hazard and should have carried a label warning wearers not to use the sunglasses while driving," Ms Burney said.
The sunglasses may affect the visibility of flashing blue light emitting diode (LED) signals and, for those with colour vision deficiencies, they may affect the recognition of green traffic signals.
Some pairs may also have lenses with unequal or uneven tints, which may affect the wearer’s perception of the distance of moving objects.
Ms Burney said it is estimated that approximately 40,000 pairs of sunglasses reached consumers during Marie Claire's SunSmart campaign with the Cancer Council of Australia.
During the campaign, equal quantities of brown and black sunglasses were distributed – the black pairs do not pose any safety risks and therefore the recall does not affect them.
Source: Office of Fair Trading NSW
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Australian News
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Wednesday, 19 March 2008 |
The board of Vision Group Holdings Limited has approved the introduction of an executive share purchase plan for senior executives.
The decision follows a review of the company’s executive compensation packaging with particular focus on the current long-term incentive scheme arrangements.
The company will offer to eligible senior executives (including the managing director) an unsecured fully recourse loan facility to acquire VGH ordinary shares on-market during a permitted trading window in the company's shares.
Source: Vision Group Holdings
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Australian News
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Friday, 07 March 2008 |
Carl Zeiss Vision has been working for some time now on identifying a charity organisation that has close links to vision
whom they can work with to grow community awareness about the importance of regular eye examinations.
Carl Zeiss Vision is pleased to announce they are now a proud supporter of Diabetes Australia.
Diabetes Australia, the national peak body for diabetes in Australia providing a single, powerful, collective voice for people living with diabetes, their families and carers, and Carl Zeiss Vision is proud to announce a philanthropic sponsorship with this organisation. Carl Zeiss Vision and Diabetes Australia are joining forces in further educating the community about the importance of people with diabetes getting regular eye health checks, which can assist in the early detection of eye disease.
Mr Tony Gray, Carl Zeiss Vision General Manager Australia/New Zealand said “we’re excited to partner with Diabetes
Australia in aid of raising awareness of this chronic disease whilst also promoting the importance of regular eye
examinations. Retinopathy is the most common diabetes related problem and is also the most common cause of
blindness in people aged 30-69 years.”
Carl Zeiss Vision will be introducing several initiatives over the coming months to create awareness about Diabetes and
the need for regular eye tests both within the optical community and to consumers.
Matt O’Brien, Chief Executive Officer Australia said “as our first national partnership we are very happy to be partnering
with Carl Zeiss Vision to collaborately promote the importance of regular eye examinations”.
Carl Zeiss Vision supports all aspects of Diabetes Australia’s priorities and strategies with a strong focus on Awareness
and Management.
( image: Tony Gray, Carl Zeiss Vision General Manager Australia/New Zealand and Matt O’Brien, Diabetes Australia Chief Executive Officer )
Source: Carl Zeiss Vision
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Australian News
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Thursday, 06 March 2008 |
Woolworths says it will open optometry stores within most of its 148 Big W stores following the successful launch of four Brisbane stores and a trial of the concept in Adelaide.
Woolworths CEO Michael Luscombe told the Australian Financial Review the company would capitalise on Big W’s foot traffic and large footprint rather than opening standalone stores.
Big W Vision stores are now successfully operating at Chermside, Strathpine, Carindale and Capalaba.
Source: InsideRetailing
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Australian News
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Thursday, 21 February 2008 |
Neale Pugh, managing director of Leightons Opticians, has resigned to join Specsavers in Australia as a development director for its first stores in the state of Victoria.
Pugh has headed the family-owned Leightons business for the past 12 years and he will be replaced by the current professional services director Sue Cockayne.
In a statement Leighton's chairman, Richard Leighton said: 'Neale is returning to his native Australia to take up a new position there. I would like to publicly thank Neale for his significant contribution to the company.'
Leighton confirmed the appointment of Cockayne adding: 'Sue Cockayne, who has worked alongside Neale as professional services director, will be taking on the role of managing director from March 1.'
Pugh refused to comment on his appointment, but a spokesperson for Specsavers confirmed Pugh would be 'joining the company as state development director to help advance our retail expansion in Australia. He is expected to relocate to Victoria in March to take up his new position'.
Specsavers' long-awaited Australian expansion will start in the state of Victoria where the firm has located its headquarters and distribution centre. Expansion will be rolled out state by state from then on. Specsavers is expecting to open between 200 and 250 stores in the next three years.
Leightons was founded 80 years ago by HO Leighton in Southampton, the current chairman's father. It currently has branches in 35 towns across south and south-east England.
Source: Optician
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Australian News
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Wednesday, 13 February 2008 |
He has been almost deified since his death 15 years ago. Indeed, his name is substituted for God's in his own foundation's slogan "For Fred's sake".
It is the sort of joke he would appreciate. Fred Hollows, who once studied for the priesthood, died an atheist. In the end he cared too much about humans to devote his life to God.
Yesterday some of those humans emerged in the baking central Australian heat to thank him again for his extraordinary gift at an intimate remembrance ceremony at his graveside in Bourke.
Among them was Tran Van Giap, a poor Vietnamese boy with a severely damaged eye who squeezed to the front of a crowd gathered around Hollows on a trip there in 1992.
He presented his face to Hollows, who seized it with both hands and looked back seemingly enraged at the injury before him.
What the seven-year-old did not know was that Hollows was ravaged with cancer and had just checked himself out of hospital.
He died on February 10 the following year.
And so Giap yesterday completed a pilgrimage of more than 7000km to Bourke to thank the man who turned his life around that day -- and to assure him his work had not been in vain.
"Thanks to the surgery I have tried to become a good person and a good citizen," said Giap, who is now the first person in his family to have gone to university.
He is not alone. The Fred Hollows Foundation gives sight to almost 74,000 people a year.
It provided other eyecare for a further million people that same year.
Fred's widow Gabi is quick to point out, it does not come cheaply.
"People say, 'If we give you the money today you'll spend it tomorrow' and I say: 'We spent it yesterday'," she told the gathered crowd of friends and family.
It was a warm and celebratory gathering.
Several times Gabi was given the wind-up by her children. And of course the PA system played up.
One speaker was offered a megaphone but considered it perhaps not entirely appropriate for a memorial service.
Far more so was the late-night booze up at the Port of Bourke Hotel the night before and the nip of whisky drunk to Fred's memory as he listened silently from the red dirt that he loved.
Source: HeraldSun
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