Christine Milne (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate—

  (a)   notes:

     (i)   the failure of the Government to adopt the recommendations of the Economics References Committee, which were supported by members of four political parties and Senator Xenophon, for reinstating specific legislative provisions on price discrimination, tightening legislation to inhibit firms achieving market power through takeovers and calling on the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) to conduct further study into the increasing shares of the grocery market being taken by the generic products of the major supermarket chains,

     (ii)   the Government's refusal to contemplate improvements to the current competition laws on the basis that these laws have not been adequately tested in the courts,

     (iii)   that Coles has announced large cuts in the prices of some fruit and vegetables, and

     (iv)   that bodies such as Ausveg, the National Farmers' Federation, the Tasmanian Farmers and Graziers Association and the Council of Small Business of Australia have expressed concern about the impact on farmers and small retailers if these price cuts are sustained; and

  (b)   calls on the Government to:

     (i)   direct the Productivity Commission to report on the effectiveness of competition policy in the grocery retailing sector,

     (ii)   direct the ACCC to update its 2008 report on competition in the grocery industry, with particular reference to the market power of the two largest retail chains, the impact of their increasing use of generic product lines and the impact of large cuts in the price of specific food items on the viability of Australian farmers,

     (iii)   direct the ACCC to examine and report on the extent to which the cuts in fruit and vegetable prices initiated by Coles in early 2012 are affecting the prices of other goods sold by the major supermarket chains, their profits, the prices they pay their suppliers and the farmgate prices received by Australian farmers, and

     (iv)   ensure that the ACCC is encouraged and adequately funded to bring matters before the courts that would lead to the current competition laws being adequately tested.

Stephen Parry (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The question is that the motion moved by Senator Milne be agreed to.

John Williams (NSW, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Deputy President, I seek leave to make a brief statement.

Stephen Parry (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is leave granted? Leave is granted for two minutes.

John Williams (NSW, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The coalition stands by the recommendations made by the Senate Economic References Committee in its dairy pricing inquiry. The problem with this motion that we have just voted on is that it does not accurately reflect the recommend­ations of the committee. The motion notes that the four political parties supported the reinstating provisions on price discrimina­tion, but this is not the case. This recommen­dation was included in additional comments to the report which was also supported by me. I support changes to competition law to reintroduce restrictions on price discrimina­tion, but I do not support motions which contain basic factual errors.

The motion calls on the government to do a range of things, but none of these were specific recommendations of the dairy pricing inquiry. Some of these ideas in the motion put up by Senator Milne have merit, such as calling for Productivity Commission and ACCC reviews, but it is unclear why the motion does not then simply call on the government to implement the simple and detailed recommendations of the dairy pric­ing inquiry. These include an independent review of the Competition and Consumer Act, improving transparency on milk-pricing contracts and for the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to provide more public information about its investigations.

The coalition is committed to undertaking a comprehensive and independent root-and-branch review of the Competition and Consumer Act. Indeed, this was a commit­ment announced by the shadow Treasurer, Joe Hockey, over 18 months ago. The government has dragged its feet on this issue. Through its actions the government has demonstrated that it has no interest in helping small business compete and get ahead, reducing red tape for business or providing greater protection for consumers.

Nick Xenophon (SA, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Deputy President, I seek leave to make a short statement.

Stephen Parry (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is leave granted? Leave is granted for two minutes.

Nick Xenophon (SA, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I supported this motion and I am grateful for the comments of both Senator Williams and Senator Heffernan in additional comments to both the first and second dairy inquiry reports. I supported this motion because I believe that time is running out for our farmers, that more and more of them are facing increased pressures due to the lack of competition in the grocery sector and that we have failed to fundamentally deal with the fact that we have two gorillas in the room, Coles and Woolworths, that control close to 80 per cent of the dry grocery market and something like 50 per cent of the fruit and vegetable market. That is why I believe this motion has considerable merit. We are running out of time for our farmers. This is meant to be the year of the farmer, but I fear this could be the year of the foreclosure for more and more farmers who have had difficulty in dealing with a very uncompetitive situation in our grocery sector.