Carina Garland (Chisholm, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I'd like to thank the member for Hawke for bringing this important motion to the House. Our government has been very squarely focused on repairing a set of economic circumstances which we inherited from the previous government and which was not in good nick, and we've been very squarely focused on relieving pressure on households. Despite the politicking we just heard from the previous speaker, we have been putting some really substantial bills before the House and passing legislation. Despite the revisionist history from those opposite, we have been taking active steps and taking very seriously the circumstances that everyday households find themselves living in in this country, largely as a result of the terrible mismanagement of the economy by the previous government. I really wish that this work were above politics for those opposite and that they had supported many of the measures that we've put forward in our term of government to relieve pressure on households, such as energy bill relief, increasing wages and the measures before us today in terms of our action in relation to supermarket pricing, because we don't want to see ordinary Australians, families and pensioners being taken for a ride by the supermarkets. In my electorate of Chisholm, we undertook a survey of the community in relation to their views on supermarket pricing, and I used the information that I garnered from that process to make a submission to the ACCC inquiry on my community's behalf. I will always be prepared to speak up for my community and for fairness.

As I mentioned earlier, we inherited a terrible set of circumstances from the previous government but we are squarely focused on fixing the economy, on making sure inflation gets under control and on making life easier for households right across Australia. It would be really nice if, for once, the opposition could work with us to do this rather than use this moment as a political football and to be tacticians rather than leaders. Our government is taking decisive action to help consumers get fairer prices at the supermarket check-out in stores and online. As we know, the Prime Minister and Treasurer have announced funding of around $30 million to help the ACCC conduct more investigations and enforcement in the supermarket and retail sectors. This will enhance the regulator's ability to monitor behaviour and to investigate pricing practices where there are concerns about supermarkets and retailers falsely justifying higher prices.

Additionally, the Treasurer will work closely with states and territories through the Council on Federal Financial Relations to reform planning and zoning regulations, which will help boost competition supermarket sector by opening up more sites for new stores. Current planning and zoning frameworks including land-use restrictions, zoning laws and planning regulations are unfortunately acting as a barrier to competition. By inhibiting businesses entering expansion, they potentially allow for things like land banking, which prevents competition and pushes up prices in our local communities.

On this side of the House we understand people are under pressure and at the check-out is one of the places they feel it the sharpest. This extra funding provided to the ACCC will ensure a fair go for Australians from the supermarkets. The ACCC has told the government there are issues it is seeing an economy it would like to investigate but it needs more resources to do so. The additional $30 million in resourcing over 3½ years will give the ACCC what it needs to pursue the type of process it announced in its allegations against the supermarkets, which is a step that our government decided to take after years of inaction by those opposite.

Unlike the coalition and the Greens, our government has policies on supermarket and grocery prices that can be implemented now, will work and make economic sense. The Emerson review of the Food and Grocery Code looked at divestiture and it didn't recommend it. The review pointed out it could actually make things worse. Our government is really focused on making things better for households across Australia, making supermarket prices fairer, and I would really urge those opposite to stop using this moment just to engage in political tactics and do the right thing by Australian households and back our government's plan in.

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