Tony Zappia (Makin, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I welcome the introduction of the Competition and Consumer Legislation Amendment Bill 2010 and the opportunity to speak on it. Members of this House might recall that on 22 January 2008 the government directed the ACCC to carry out an inquiry into grocery prices. That inquiry was effectively concluded in July, with a report being received by the government on 31 July 2008. On 5 August 2008, the government responded with a preliminary action plan in respect of that inquiry. I well recall the inquiry because I made a lengthy submission to it. I also well recall that at the time there was widespread community concern in respect of the uncompetitive nature of some of the major retailers throughout this country. As a result of the uncompetitive business being carried out by the two main companies, there were also, I recall, substantial submissions made to the inquiry at the time.

As a result of the report handed down to the government of the day a number of recommendations were made. I believe that this bill goes a long way to responding to and implementing some of the matters that were raised in the course of an inquiry. While the bill raises several matters, I want to highlight three of them. They are the matters relating to what is generally known as creeping acquisitions, consistency between the ACCC and the Trade Practices Act in the interpretation of the laws, and guidance with respect to the interpretation by the ACCC and the Trade Practices Act of the term ‘unconscionable conduct’. While this bill will provide some guidance in respect of that interpretation, I have no doubt that, once it is passed and becomes legislation, it will ultimately have to be tested in the courts, as most pieces of legislation often are.

We live in a free-market society in which ongoing healthy and fair competition benefits consumers. The member for Moreton used an example of purchasing food products at some of our sporting venues. He is absolutely right in using that example, but that example applies in respect of a range of measures right throughout the country when it comes to the sale or resale of any product. It is with respect to ensuring that unhealthy competition is ongoing that this bill is so important. We often see competition in the marketplace for a short period and during a time in which perhaps a major player in the marketplace is simply competing in a very deliberate fashion in order to put the opposition out of business. Once that happens, the competition is no longer there and we begin to see an escalation in prices.

One of the most important things we can do for small business in this country, as well as for consumers, is to ensure they are able to survive in the face of the opposition from much larger operators in their very industry. I am sure that all of us in this place can think of so many small businesses which have literally been squeezed out of the marketplace by the unfair advantage which larger operators have. If time permits, I am happy to talk about some of them, because I have seen it at first hand. I have been in business myself, I have competed with chain store operators and I have seen exactly how they operate. Having said that, I accept that competition, if it is fair and reasonable, is in the interest of consumers and does benefit the Australian people. It has to be the case that that competition does benefit the Australian people and not disadvantage them.

I mentioned earlier that the government has committed to a number of reforms in regard to the grocery prices inquiry to which I referred earlier. I want to go through the five critical areas where the government has already made some announcements. They include, firstly, relaxation of foreign investment rules for overseas-owned supermarkets; secondly, the removal of restrictive clauses in tenancy agreement between major supermarket chains and shopping centre owners which inhibit the entry of rivals; thirdly, the agreement of the Council of Australian Governments to begin removing unwarranted, uncompetitive provisions in planning and zoning laws; fourthly, the announcement of amendments to the competition laws to address the issue of creeping acquisitions; and, fifthly, the introduction of compulsory unit pricing in large supermarkets to empower consumers to identify the supermarket items representing the best value for money

Let me go through each of those points one at a time. Firstly, I referred to the restrictive provisions in leases. We are all aware of shopping centres in years gone by that would be dominated by one major retailer or another who effectively had control over that shopping centre in the form of a lease which said that no competition would be allowed into the shopping centre. I understand that there were something like 750 such leases around Australia. The government has reached agreement with the two major retailers, Coles and Woolworths, to ensure that, of those leases, at least 80 per cent will cease immediately and those that have only been implemented in recent years will be phased out over the next five years. That effectively does away with that monopoly that individual retailers have within shopping centres.

I can use a classic example of that. In the largest shopping centre closest to where I live, that provision has existed from the day the shopping centre opened in the seventies up until now. When some floor space became available within the shopping centre, the retailer that was already there actually took up the vacant space just to prevent anyone else coming in and being in competition with them. That kind of thing needs to be stopped.

On the foreign investment rules, I welcome the decision by the government to give an investor up to five years to get their planning and development underway. We all know that, if you purchase a parcel of land for the purpose of putting up a development, five years is not a long time and quite often it takes every bit of that time to see a development put into place.

I also welcome the issue relating to planning laws and the negotiations with local government and the Council of Australian Governments, because ultimately planning laws in each state are administered by the state government. Again, I can talk about a personal experience. When I was the Mayor of the City of Salisbury, in the major shopping centre of the town there was one key retailer. That retailer owned some land that it no longer required. The land was allowed to deteriorate to the point that it became an eyesore. I travelled to Melbourne to negotiate with the CEO of the company concerned to enable the local council to purchase the land to do something for the community with it. Their fear was that we would in turn on-sell it, perhaps to another retailer. For years that fear prevented them from selling it, even to the local community, so as to ensure that they would not have competition in the town. That kind of practice needs to be stopped. Ultimately, after many years, we did purchase the land and it was turned into a community open space public area.

I am familiar with the issue of creeping acquisitions as well. I note that it was only towards the end of last year that Caltex was prevented by the ACCC from purchasing some 300 Mobil outlets. I am very familiar with this; I have seen it. As I said earlier, I have been in businesses where we competed against chain stores. One of those businesses, years ago, was a petrol outlet business. I can recall that at the time we went into the business—this was some three decades ago—there were probably 10 different operators in the market. Today you would be lucky to have four or five major operators, because all the others have been bought out and, along the way, so has the competition.

The question of unit pricing has been introduced. I am aware that it is already in existence in the USA and the European Union. I think it makes shopping much easier for consumers. It certainly makes it much easier for consumers to determine where they are getting the best price.

Can I just sum up by saying that there are a whole raft of measures that affect competition throughout this country. I could talk about not only the matters that I have already spoken about but other matters that need to be addressed. The minister came into the chamber just a few moments ago. I take this opportunity to commend the minister for all of the reform work he has done since being made Minister for Small Business, Independent Contractors and the Service Economy with respect to not only providing the kind of support that small business needs but, just as importantly, putting through the law reforms that were required to ensure that consumers and business get the best possible deal out of the opportunities that are available in this country.

This bill is just one of a number of measures that the minister has put to the parliament. I have absolutely no doubt that these measures will be very welcome and will be supported by the broader community at large. Certainly in my electorate I have had numerous representations from people over the last almost three years urging me to pass their concerns through to the minister to bring about these kinds of reforms. I welcome the reforms and I certainly commend the minister for having brought them in. I commend this bill to the House.

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