Nick McKim (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

It's time that Coles and Woolworths, the corporate supermarket giants in Australia, were called to account. Millions of Australians are struggling to put food on the table, struggling to afford the basic necessities of life, while Coles and Woolworths are raking in literally billions of dollars in profits. It's impossible to walk the aisles of a Coles or a Woolies supermarket at the moment, fill up your trolley, get to the checkout and not be appalled at the dollar value of the goods that you have gathered.

It is time that we had a robust inquiry into the pricing practices of the corporate supermarket giants in Australia, it is time we examined the overwhelming concentration of market power that Coles and Woolies have and it is time that we hauled in the CEOs of Coles and Woolies, who are making off like bandits while their corporations make billions of dollars in profits, and ensure that those CEOs are called to account for their pricing practices. We'll give them the chance to explain, if they can, why it is that they think it's okay to do over farmers to make billions of dollars in profits and charge food and grocery prices that are sending millions of Australians into a struggle to make ends meet. It is time that we had a good, long look at the pricing practices of the corporate supermarket giants in Australia, it is time we shone the disinfectant of sunlight on their pricing practices and it is time that they were called to account.