Solomon Lew targets Myer board seats … Scott Morrison pushes business tax cuts … Aldi launches three-course restaurant

Solomon Lew, head of one of Myer’s biggest stakeholders Premier Investments Group, has threatened to call an extraordinary general meeting in order to land two seats on the company’s board, reports Fairfax.

The billionaire is also calling upon Myer shareholders to reject the company’s own submissions for board members to prevent any further decline in the share price of the department store.

In a statement to the Australian Securities Exchange, Premier Investments, which owns 10.8% of Myer, notified shareholders this week that Lew had met with Myer chairman Garry Hounsell to discuss the appointment of two Premier Investments directors to the Myer board, a proposal which was then rejected by Hounsell.

“Myer is an iconic and important Australian business which, for the sake of its shareholders, employees and customers, must not be allowed to suffer any further decline,” the company said.

“Premier wishes to contribute its significant retail industry expertise at board level, and hopes that it can garner the support of its fellow Myer shareholders to do so.”

Scott Morrison pushes for “urgent” company tax cuts

Treasurer Scott Morrison will deliver a speech today declaring that furthering the government’s $50 billion plan for business tax cuts is “an urgent matter”, reports Fairfax.

Morrison will say Australia risks becoming “an uncompetitive tax island” if the government can’t further extend its tax cuts to larger businesses, having only passed the progressive 25% cut for Australian SMEs.

The support for tax cuts will be announced alongside a wider push for higher productivity growth, with Morrison saying Australia cannot afford to maintain its 1.8% rate of growth if it wants to offset the reduction in workforce due to an ageing population.

“We need growth of around 2.5 percent to maintain the growth in our living standards,” he will say.

Aldi dishes up new three-course restaurant

Australian shoppers are no stranger to the weekly Aldi shop, but with the launch of a new restaurant in Germany this week, a weekly Aldi three-course meal could be on the cards too.

News.com.au reports an Aldi store in Munich, Germany, is serving up three course meals for just $12, with a weekly changing menu and outdoor seating. One blogger who ate there wrote the food was “really tasty and the waiters were also very friendly”.

This could be Aldi’s answer to Ikea’s tentative plans for an Ikea-based restaurant, which the Swedish company let onto earlier this year.

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