Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I've been waiting to get a question about the Soviet Union and I've gotten one from the Queensland Greens. Who would've had that on their bingo card? When it comes to supermarkets what we have done is intervene in a range of ways. Firstly, we have directed the ACCC to conduct an inquiry into supermarket prices and we have made it very clear that, if the ACCC recommend to us further mandating of the current voluntary code of conduct, then we are completely up for that. We've appointed Dr Emerson to lead a review in the Food and Grocery Code of Conduct. We're partnered with CHOICE to provide Australian households with better information on the comparative cost of goods. We've increased penalties for anti-competitive conduct. We've banned unfair contract terms. We've introduced legislation in this House to allow designated small advocates to fast-track complaints through the ACCC, and we look forward to it being supported.

We know that the Leader of the Nationals has had some comments to say about this. He has said that the coalition were too slow, and on that we agree with the Leader of the Nationals. He has said that the Nationals wanted to move a lot quicker in terms of a compulsory grocery code, and I say to the Leader of the Nationals: break away! There are opportunities to break away from the shackles of the Liberal Party that have been holding you back for all of this time. I encourage you to break away.

But I'm surprised that the Nats, in breaking away, have indicated their support for the Greens political party. I didn't see that coming, in spite of the colours on their how-to-vote cards. The Leader of the National Party is now saying that the tail, instead of being at the back of the Liberal Party dog, will be wagging away in conjunction with the Greens.

What we will do, as a result of the ACCC, is that we will take those recommendations seriously. We will come to the parliament. We know that more has to be done. We know that, when a farmer gets less for their product—

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