Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I just referred in the second part of my answer to the ACCC undertaking a monthly survey of grocery prices—if those opposite bothered to listen to the answer. The third part relates to how you go about bringing greater competition into Australia’s grocery sector. As we indicated in April, we are dealing with how to make it easier for foreign investors who are bringing greater competition into the Australian retail grocery sector. One of the challenges we face here is the concentration within the sector. Major retailers such as Woolies and Coles are estimated to have a combined market share of over 70 per cent in some segments. The annual average growth in food prices in the 10 years to the March quarter 2008 was 3.9 per cent across the CPI headline of three per cent. Given that those opposite were in power for over a decade, what did they actually do on the question of greater competition power in the grocery sector? Let us go to some other data. In the 12 months to March 2008, food prices increased by 5.7 per cent, due to strong increases in dairy and other related products, and that contrasted, of course, with a lower CPI figure for the overall period. The question is: what did those opposite do about that increase?

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