Bob Katter (Kennedy, Katter's Australian Party) Share this | Hansard source

Over the years I have found that when you want to know why something extraordinary has occurred, you should follow the money trail. Now, if the income of owner-operator pharmacists is going to be halved, who profits by that? Obviously, they're going to go broke. Who is going to take over the job of pharmacies? Well, obviously, Terry White and Chemist Warehouse, the big boys. So what you have done here is impose a Woolworths and Coles upon pharmacies. You took away statutory marketing for farmers. When we had some 286,000 farmers—when I say 'you', in this case I mean the National Party, which deregulated the farmers—we now have 82,000 farmers. Congratulations, Mr Country Party that-once-was, you betrayed every single principle you've ever believed in. That quote from Andrew Gee was a dead accurate assessment.

Coming back to the pharmacies, in this case, you halved the income of owner-operator pharmacists. So they're going to go broke, and who is going to take their place? The big two. And your spokesman in the Senate was so incredibly stupid as to let the cat out of the bag. She said: 'Oh, we haven't had time to discuss it with the Pharmacy Guild, but we have discussed it with Chemist Warehouse.' I bet you did. I bet Chemist Warehouse discussed it with you.

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