Stephen Conroy (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

This government makes no apology for siding with consumers by putting more information about grocery prices in the public domain. The Rudd government made it clear when GROCERYchoice was launched in August that it would look at ways to give consumers more information. Since then, the government has been speaking to industry and consumer groups, including Choice, on how GROCERYchoice can be enhanced to provide further information to consumers. The ACCC, as the regulator, was always limited in its ability to provide additional information, such as weekly specials. That is why we are working hard to deliver to consumers a GROCERYchoice that is as useful and as helpful to consumers as possible. After all, we agree with consumers that they need more information, and we will continue to work at providing that to them.

What is interesting is that, after 13 years in government, the coalition maintains the view that keeping consumers in the dark is the best way forward. Well, we take a different approach, Senator Xenophon. Our approach is to say, ‘Let’s have transparency and empower consumers so they can find the best value at the supermarket or at the petrol station.’ Apart from the GROCERYchoice website, we are moving to a mandatory national unit pricing regime, which will allow consumers to easily compare the prices of different sized products. These are practical measures that the previous government gave no thought to. Choice has a well-developed degree of expertise to bring to the table. The consumer affairs minister has already— (Time expired)