Ms Julie Bishop (Curtin, Liberal Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Now that the Assistant Treasurer has admitted to the West Australian that the government’s ‘grocery watch’ will do nothing to reduce grocery prices, when will the Prime Minister stop watching grocery prices go up and start doing something?

Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

From the honourable member for Curtin, who disparages shoppers who go in search of specials, I find that absolutely remarkable. I think the most out-of-touch question I have heard from the Liberal Party all year was the one earlier this week or last week—whenever it was—when she actively disparaged people who go out there in search of specials. The average annual growth in food prices for the 10 years to the March quarter of 2008 was 3.9 per cent, compared to three per cent for headline CPI.

Ms Julie Bishop (Curtin, Liberal Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Ms Julie Bishop interjecting

Luke Simpkins (Cowan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

You’re stuck in the past.

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Deputy Leader of the Opposition has asked her question. The member for Cowan is warned.

Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Average annual growth in the period from March 2006 to March 2008 was 5.1 per cent for food, compared with 3.3 per cent for the CPI. One might ask: between March 2006 and March 2008—three months into our government but almost two years of their government—if 5.1 per cent was the average food increase in that period, what by way of any assistance to the competition policy powers available to consumers did those opposite do? Nothing. They simply adopted a position where they disparage those who go in search of specials and disparage the efforts of the member for Lilley, the Treasurer, who has been active in this field ever since I have known him, as a member of parliament with his constituents on the north side of Brisbane, to assist them with their own hunt for the best grocery prices in his community.

In the 12 months to March 2008, food prices increased by 5.7 per cent due to strong increases in the prices of dairy and related products and, of course, increases in bread and cereal products. Working families, working Australians, pensioners and carers are feeling all of these costs. As a result, on 22 January, a month or two after we took office, the government directed the ACCC to commence a formal inquiry into grocery prices and to report its findings by 31 July 2008. I notice that, despite all the powers available within the ACCC, in the period of 12 years when those opposite were in office—including the last two years when grocery prices went up by 5.1 per cent, a couple of percentage points in excess of the regular CPI—those opposite did absolutely nothing. What we have asked is for the ACCC to conduct a formal inquiry into grocery prices. Furthermore, the government has instructed the ACCC to take a broad approach to its inquiry so that all aspects of the supply chain are included, from the farm gate to the checkout counter, to ensure that families are getting the best deal possible at the supermarket. The ACCC is considering the industry’s current structure and the nature of competition within it at the supply, wholesale and retail levels in order to determine the transparency of what is going on. It is also considering mergers and acquisitions by national retailers. The ACCC has received some 190 submissions from a variety of stakeholders in response to the issues paper which it has released. The ACCC has conducted a number of public hearings across rural and metropolitan areas. The government has also asked the ACCC to undertake a monthly survey of grocery prices for a typical shopping basket of goods across Australia and to establish a dedicated website on grocery prices.

We have always said about grocery prices, and Fuelwatch in relation to the price of petrol, that we are committed to a set of modest measures to give consumers more information and, as a consequence, more power. As a consequence, we believe these are modest steps forward, as we have always indicated, in stark contrast to those opposite, who for 12 long years in office washed their hands of all responsibility. The honourable member who asked the question has done so, I think, with absolute temerity given her derisory remarks about working Australians who every week look for their specials and go out to balance their family budgets.