Glenn Sterle (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to begin by putting on the record that I've spent many years arguing with Coles and Woolworths around supply chain challenges, fatigue management, waiting times at distribution centres for our truck drivers, and safe and sustainable rates. A lot of water has passed under the bridge since then, and I'm happy to say I've worked closely with both Coles and Woolworths to improve supply chain efficiency and safety. For the record, I was the deputy chair of the recent Senate select committee inquiry into supermarket prices. But it is enormously encouraging to know Australian industry is now at the level of maturity where certain participants in the supply chain accept that they are all responsible for achieving a safe, sustainable and viable road transport industry.

One of the ways the government is helping Australians who are battling with the cost of day-to-day living expenses is through the quarterly survey of supermarket prices undertaken by CHOICE, which is funded by the federal government. While the team at Woolworths have pointed out some methodological issues with the CHOICE survey that was released in June, they did provide their own useful comparison, and I want to share it with the Senate. That survey revealed that a basket of comparable goods cost $41.19 at Woolworths in New South Wales and $40.52 at Aldi also in New South Wales.

These comparisons are important. They're important to help families get value for money when doing the grocery shopping. They're also important in busting the myth about the input cost that Aldi blames for putting pressure on grocery prices. Don't get me wrong—I have had my differences with Woolworths over the years, as I've said, but they do the right thing by their workers, both in their stores and further back in their supply chain.

Just over a year ago, branches of the Transport Workers Union throughout mainland Australia were forced to take protest action outside of Aldi stores after waiting 14 weeks for Aldi to respond to claims served on them by the union relating to safe, fair supply chain principles, and I was proud to join a number of those protests. In fact, rather than sign a charter with the TWU on supply chain accountability, like both Coles and Woolworths did, Aldi decided to take the union and their workers to court to try and silence them—not once but twice. Fortunately, they failed both times.

Let's be clear about what Aldi were not prepared to sign up for. They refused to agree to being accountable for safe, fair work throughout their supply chains. They refused to agree to transparency in transport contracts so that no transport worker would fall through the cracks. They wouldn't agree to allowing transport workers to have a collective voice, which would allow transport workers to speak out on pay and safety. They did all this to try and suppress the rights and wages of transport workers, while claiming to save Australian consumers money—a miserable 67c for a basket of 14 goods in the June survey.

Those opposite and the Greens political party need to bear this in mind when they promote their populist nonsense about divestiture. If current large supermarket chains are prohibited from buying more stores, that leaves foreign supermarket chains as potential buyers; otherwise, the stores will be forced to close. That's what this lot over there and the Greens want to do. This would have a disastrous impact on local jobs and cause massive inconvenience to local shoppers in communities.

Guerillas like Aldi and Walmart compete based on exploiting their hardworking retail and transport workers. When wealthy companies profit off the back of razor-thin margins in the transport industry, it puts lives at risk, with drivers and operators being forced to try and meet unrealistic deadlines and to cut corners in safety to stay in business. For years, Aldi not only ignored truck drivers speaking out on safety but repeatedly took action against them for doing so. For many of our truck drivers, Aldi's treatment was literally a matter of life and death. Many of them were under deadly pressures thanks to Aldi.

Fortunately, the passage of the Albanese government's Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Closing Loopholes) Bill 2023 put paid to a lot of Aldi's conduct. The passage of that vital legislation and the publication by Woolworths of their June survey should end the notion that it was the cost of labour that was driving up profits in our supermarkets. The passage of this legislation brings with it greater focus on companies that do the wrong thing. There is now a united bargaining committee in place that includes TWU delegates from transport, SDA delegates from warehouse and retail, and TWU and SDA officials representing the entire workforce to negotiate with Aldi. This unprecedented team marks a big step forward in achieving crucial changes at Aldi, and I welcome and look forward to the feedback.