Malcolm Turnbull laments “eerily silent” Melbourne on AFL grand final public holiday; 7-Eleven mulls opening hours change: Midday Roundup

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has drawn attention to the quiet streets of Melbourne’s CBD this morning, thanks to the controversial AFL grand final eve public holiday.

“Very peaceful trip on no 11 tram – eerily quiet on a public holiday! Miss the people & excitement of grand final eve,” the Prime Minister tweeted at 7.39am this morning along with two photos of vacant seats on his tram and an empty Melbourne street.

Very peaceful trip on no 11 tram – eerily quiet on a public holiday! Miss the people & excitement of grand final eve pic.twitter.com/HINW9VqQkm

— Malcolm Turnbull (@TurnbullMalcolm) October 1, 2015

However, Turnbull found one small business that was open this morning.

With Tien, Tung and Loan at Engels espresso in Collins St pic.twitter.com/UH9xuKxNFQ

— Malcolm Turnbull (@TurnbullMalcolm) October 1, 2015

7-Eleven mulls opening hours change

Convenience store 7-Eleven is considering changing its store trading hours as recently appointed chairman Michael Smith prepares to meet with franchisees next week.

Smith, who took over as chair of the company from owner Russell Withers on Wednesday, told Fairfax “everything is on the table” at the meetings.

7-Eleven will hold meetings with franchisees in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane between October 8 and 12 to outline changes “impacting both the agreement and the current profit share structure”, according to a letter received by franchisees.

“The needle needs to move and the needle needs to move for that group of franchisees who are for some reason not doing as well,” Smith said.

“Everything’s on the table and we’re modelling all of these things – whatever we come up with, the first test it has is it fair?”

“I think it has to be open, widely understood and it has to be fair – fair to shareholders and fair to franchisees.”

Shares down on open

Aussie shares have traded lower this morning, following a fall on US markets overnight.

The S&P/ASX 200 benchmark was down 24.6 points to 5087.5 points at 12.18pm AEST. On Thursday, the Dow Jones closed 12.69 points lower, down 0.08% to 16272 points.