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As grocery prices go up around the country, Woolworths has announced a bumper annual profit of $1.5 billion.

Despite this, CEO Brad Banducci had hoped for more.

"We're always trying to balance doing the right thing for our customers, for our team, for our suppliers and our shareholders," he said.

READ MORE: Coles and Woolworths drop prices on hundreds of products

"I'm very conscious on how our consumers feel shopping in our stores."

He said while they weren't seeing material changes in how people shopped, plenty of people were adjusting their supermarket choices to stay within their budgets.

That means switching from beef to chicken or pork mince or buying frozen vegetables instead of fresh options, Banducci said.

"We've seen inflation in virtually everything we do," Banducci said.

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"It's the first time in my memory we've seen vegetable prices being at such elevated levels.

"The good news is they're about to go down."

He cited the impact of heavy rainfall in vegetable-growing areas.

Low UV levels at greenhouses slowed the growth of produce like tomatoes.

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"There's a lot of material issues that have been flowing through into the long-life categories as well," he said.

"I'm hoping we'll get a more balanced scenario in Q2 (the second quarter).

"We will seek the peak (of inflation) come before Christmas."

Despite supply chain issues, Australian food sales recorded above market growth in every quarter of the year.

"The extremely challenging operating environment caused by supply chain disruptions, product shortages, team absenteeism and flooding led to an inconsistent customer experience and a financial performance that was below our aspirations for the year," he said in a statement.

Despite being closed during much of the pandemic lockdowns, Big W recorded strong growth.

The supermarket also put a $323 million price tag on the costs associated with COVID-19.

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That includes cleaning and PPE, contractors and security, team costs including sick leave, and supply chain expenses.

The business has done worse in New Zealand compared to the previous year, attributed largely to supply chain and staffing problems.

Woolworths' share price dropped four per cent on the ASX today.

A nurse who inspected Aishwarya Aswath at a Perth hospital maintains her triage score was appropriate but says time constraints prevented a more thorough assessment.

Seven-year-old Aishwarya died of sepsis in April last year, hours after presenting to the Perth Children's Hospital emergency department with a fever and unusually cold hands.

She had been left in a waiting room for more than 90 minutes, despite her parents pleading with staff to escalate care as her condition deteriorated.

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An inquest into her death is examining why their concerns were not acted upon earlier.

Aishwarya had been unwell for around 36 hours when she was brought to the hospital around 5.30pm on Easter Saturday by her father Aswath Chavittupara and mother Prasitha Sasidharan.

She was given a triage score of four – the second-least serious category – by nurse Jacqueline Taylor.

Taylor on Thursday told the inquest she had been running the triage desk alone with 96 patients presenting during the afternoon shift.

CCTV footage showed Aishwarya being carried by her father to the desk and observed by Taylor entirely through a screen during the three-minute triage process.

Taylor said hands-on assessments were preferable but not possible due to time constraints.

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Aishwarya was recorded as having diarrhoea, vomiting and a headache and feeling weak but Taylor said she didn't know the girl had a fever.

She deemed Aishwarya, whose temperature was later recorded at 38.8C, to be alert and awake and likely suffering from gastro.

Counsel assisting Sarah Tyler said an expert witness, Sathiaseelan Nair, had deemed Taylor's recording of Aishwarya's history and symptoms to be incomplete.

Nair believed Aishwarya should have been given a triage score of three, rather than four.

Taylor maintained the score was appropriate given the available information, saying it was not unusual for parents to seem anxious.

She did not believe there were any cultural barriers but acknowledged Aishwarya's care could have been escalated earlier had she undergone a more thorough triage assessment.

Taylor, who is on parental leave from Perth Children's Hospital, said staff had been exhausted and demoralised at times.

She said while the hospital had since hired more nurses, some were still working double shifts.

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Additional triage support had been provided but vital signs were generally not checked during the process.

"The whole department was under pressure, time pressure and exhaustion," she said.

"I don't believe they're up to an ideal standard yet."

Aishwarya was described as floppy and barely able to lift her head by the time she was finally moved from the waiting room to an assessment bay and then the resuscitation area.

She went into cardiac arrest and was pronounced dead around 9pm, having succumbed to an infection related to group A streptococcus.

Aishwarya's parents have said hospital staff were rude and dismissive and showed little urgency to address their concerns.

Another nurse who had examined Aishwarya recorded family concern as "zero", deputy state coroner Sarah Linton was told.

The inquest continues.

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Exclusive: Victims of the robodebt scheme have embraced Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's announcement today of a royal commission into the scandal.

Revealing details of the $30 million probe, Albanese said robodebt, which led to a $1.8 billion class action settlement between victims and the federal government, was "a human tragedy with very real consequences for its victims".

A total of $1.73 billion in unlawful debts were raised against more than 400,000 people during the disastrous scheme, which ran from July 2015 to November 2019.

Queensland mother Kath Madgwick lost her only child, son Jarrad to suicide.

READ MORE: A Robodebt royal commission has been announced. What can we expect now?

The 22-year-old took his life hours after finding out he had a Centrelink debt of $2000 in May 2019.

Madgwick said she was "delighted" to hear news of the royal commission today, adding that she hoped it would bring closure for herself and others who had lost their closest loved ones.

"I'm hoping it means we get some answers," she said. 

"I'm really hoping they learn and realise that they're dealing with vulnerable people, and that this never gets rolled out again." 

Madgwick said she finds it harrowing to think what might have been if the former coalition government had acted on earlier warnings of other people taking their lives over Centrelink debts, rather than carrying on with the debt-raising program for four-and-a-half years.

"If they had done something (earlier) my son could still be here," Madgwick said.

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A key line of inquiry in the royal commission will be what legal advice the former coalition government received over the scheme and when. 

Former prime minister Scott Morrison, who was social services minister at the time robodebt was introduced, is likely to be called to give evidence. 

Other former government ministers expected to be drawn into the investigation are Alan Tudge and Stuart Robert, who both acted as social services minister during various iterations of the scheme, and former attorney general Christian Porter.

Do you have a story? Contact reporter Emily McPherson at ********@******om.au/” target=”” />