Dan Tehan (Wannon, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Immigration and Citizenship) Share this | Hansard source

Since the last election, food prices have risen by 12 per cent. In 2½ years, they've risen 12 per cent. Health costs are up 10.5 per cent. Housing is up 13 per cent. Gas is up 33 per cent. Insurance is up 17 per cent. I could go on. We are in the midst of a cost-of-living crisis, and nowhere is this being felt more than when it comes to food prices. Everyone has seen it on a daily basis because, when they go to the supermarket, there before them they are seeing that prices continue to go up and up.

Sadly, the government has no answer to this cost-of-living crisis. That is why the coalition is putting forward policies to fix the mess that the Labor government have made. What we are doing today is making sure we are standing up for working families and our farmers. The coalition is standing up for those working families and for our farmers by introducing the Food and Grocery (Mandatory) Code of Conduct Bill 2024. This private member's bill will restore fairness for consumers, families, suppliers and farmers. What will this plan do? It will make the food and grocery code of conduct mandatory for supermarkets with an annual turnover of at least $5 billion. It will have higher penalties for breaches of the code—the greater of $10 million, three times the value of the benefit obtained from a contravention or, where the court can't determine the benefit from a contravention, 10 per cent of annual turnover. This will enable infringement penalties of $2 million.

We'll also give the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission powers to undertake audits of supermarkets to ensure that supermarkets are compliant with the code; create a supermarket commissioner to act as a confidential avenue for farmers and suppliers to address the fear of retribution; and also introduce the Competition and Consumer Amendment (Tougher Penalties for Supermarket and Hardware Businesses) Bill 2024 to establish sector-specific divestiture powers in the hands of the ACCC and the courts, not members of parliament, as a last resort to address the behaviour of supermarkets and to put an end to instances of price gouging. Divestiture powers will come with appropriate public interest safeguards.

The coalition is committed to delivering competition policy which supports consumers and smaller businesses, not the big corporations and lobbyists. Competitive markets benefit everyone by ensuring lower prices, creating more employment opportunities and fostering innovation. Labor have completely failed on competition policy, and that is why we are seeing people paying so much more at the supermarket. Labor have failed to address inflation and to be able to drive interest rates down, and that is what is really hurting Australians. When it comes to rural and regional Australia and to my electorate of Wannon, it is exactly the same.

What people want to see is a government that is focused on getting cost-of-living pressures down. What people want to see is a government that is going to address inflation and make sure it deals with inflation. I'm sorry to have to report this, but right now the Australian people are looking at this government and the Prime Minister and saying: 'He looks weak. He looks like he can't do anything to address these issues. He looks incompetent.' They are calling out for action, and that is why we are introducing this private member's bill today to make sure that we're stepping up where the government is failing. We understand, and have seen for 2½ years, that the cost-of-living pressure is hurting. We are now providing the solutions that the government should have been adopting for a long, long time. So I say to everyone listening today: rest assured the opposition understands your difficulties, and that's why we're putting solutions forward.

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