Monique Ryan (Kooyong, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Coles used to run ads about how you could feed a family of four for under $10. Let's have a look at what you can buy for $10 at Coles these days: a single bag of Coles branded grated cheese, a box of Nutri-Grain, two packets of chips or a jar of Nutella and some Helgas bread. I'm not sure my kids would be too happy with a bowl of grated cheese for dinner. The supermarkets say that this is what happens in a cost-of-living crisis, but they are wrong. Coles and Woolies have increased their prices by about 10 per cent in the last 12 months while giving themselves record profits—there's $1.1 billion for Coles this year and $1.6 billion for Woolies. While everyone else is struggling, Coles and Woolworths are making more money. They've made their shareholders happy at the expense of us basket holders.

For many of my constituents, the weekly trip to the shops has become a source of anxiety. I see them picking up an item and then putting it back on the shelf and tallying up items as they go to make sure that they're not going to be over budget when they get to the check-out. They're going without fresh meat, vegetables and fruit, unless there's a decent special. They're going in to pick up a few things but coming out having spent $40. They're putting off going to the supermarket until just before it closes in the hope that there'll be something on the bargain shelf. This feels wrong. It shouldn't be like this in this country.

Coles and Woolies own two-thirds of the supermarket sector nationally. In some parts of Australia they own 90 per cent of the sector. This is a competition crisis as much as it is a cost-of-living crisis. The two supermarkets can push prices up because they know that we have to shop with them. In other countries, supermarkets have been threatened with price controls, financial penalties or even being forced to open their wholesale operations to supply independent grocers. We need more independent grocers in Australia again. We need to address this duopoly. We should give the ACCC greater powers to crack down on price gouging in the supermarket sector. If the supermarkets won't keep their prices down after that, we should explore the penalties and controls that other countries have put in place.