Aaron Violi (Casey, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I want to start by commending the member for Spence. I'm lucky enough to serve on the Agriculture Committee with him. We spent some time together on that inquiry into food security. I know his words and his passion for this industry are heartfelt, so I want to commend him for that. We do have a lot of back and forth in this house, but I think it's important that, when we are bipartisan, we should acknowledge that. This is a complicated and challenging issue that we need to address for consumers and for suppliers and farmers.

It would be remiss of me if, at the first time I've had this year to speak about farmers and suppliers to Woolworths and Coles, I didn't mention and acknowledge the passing last week of Bill Montague at the age of 97. Bill Montague started helping his father with fruit through his primary school years. He started his own company in 1948 at 22 years of age, and he planted that first orchard in Narre Warren North, in my electorate, in 1950. If anyone in this House or at home—or yourself, Deputy Speaker—has eaten a Jazz apple, that's a Montague's apple. The Montague family brought the Jazz apple into this country in about 2003, I believe it was. It's an example of why we need to support farmers and small businesses when they start back in the fifties and grow through to the Jazz apple.

Bill and the Montague family have had a huge impact on agriculture in Casey and across Australia. That was recognised when Bill received the Order of Australia medal, the OAM, for his services to the fruit industry in 2006. He was a man of character, a man of business and definitely a man of good judgement. That good judgement was demonstrated through his successful businesses but also through his love of the Collingwood Football Club. He clearly had great character. I know that for Bill and the family it did mean a lot that Collingwood won the premiership this year. I know the member for Spence is a good Collingwood man as well. It genuinely meant a lot to Bill that he was able to see that last premiership. I want to acknowledge Bill Montague. Vale Bill.

The reason I wanted to share Bill's story was because these are the challenges that we are trying to address. We need to make sure in the future other young farmers and other entrepreneurs can start an orchard and then 70 or 80 years later it become a successful, thriving, family business that feeds the nation. That is the challenge that we face. It is under pressure, as the member for Spence said, due to the size of Woolworths and Coles.

I spent over a decade working in food manufacturing, supplying products to Woolworths and Coles, so I have seen first-hand the tactics that they use to put pressure on suppliers and on farmers and, in many cases, it is unconscionable and unacceptable. We also need to recognise that it is the supplier in most cases who feels the brunt of that. We saw today in media reports that Coles are putting pressure on to suppliers to drop their prices so that they can pass it on to consumers. Without looking at the details, I can guarantee that Coles will not be dropping the margin that they take home; they will make sure they deliver their profitability at an executive level to get their bonuses.

What is happening as we speak is a buyer from Coles is going to a small business and there is a strong chance that Coles makes up about 50 to 60, maybe 70, per cent of that business's sales. The buyer is saying to that business owner who has taken a risk, invested millions of dollars of capital into the family business today and last week and in the weeks to come, and saying, 'You need to make a decision. You need to drop your price. I don't care what your unit cost is. I don't care if it profitable or not. You need to drop your price so we can pass it on to the consumer.' The business has to decide: do they die a death by 1,000 cuts and deliver an unprofitable product? Because if they do not give it to the Coles buyer today, they might not get delisted today, but, we all know in the industry that in six months time when the range review comes around, they will cop it in the neck. That is the reality of what happens when you have a duopoly controlling the market. It is a complicated, challenging issue, but we need to do everything we can to make sure we protect farmers, suppliers and small businesses.

See this speech in context