Craig Kelly (Hughes, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

One of the basic premises of our free market system is that the exchanges along the production and distribution chain are voluntary. There must be a willing buyer and a willing seller. But the risk that we have to the very free market system is when our markets become overly concentrated. A recent example was what the ACCC have alleged in a case about one of our largest supermarket chains. They allege that one of their suppliers, a small business, actually fell short according to their budget but had $300,000 worth of profit, according to that large retailer. After they had sold it—they had the contract and sold their products—and moved on, they decided that they would go back on their so-called perfect profit day and screw $300,000 out of that retailer to make up for their lost profits, rather than reducing their own costs themselves. We know what happened. This is the case that the ACCC have alleged.

This is nothing other than coercion and extortion. The consumer should be very concerned about this. Wherever there is coercion and extortion in a market, whether it be by corrupt government officials, mafia-like criminal activity, a rogue trade union or a monopolistic power, it is the consumer who loses through higher prices—and this is what we are seeing here. We need to take action. Our current section 46 of the Trade Practices Act does not address this activity.

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