Tammy Tyrrell (Tasmania, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

What would you do with an extra $900 in your pocket every year? It would mean your son could finally play on the football team because he could finally afford the uniform and membership fees. Maybe you could afford to keep your heater on in the freezing Tassie winter. It might pay for your car rego or a month of rent. That's what bringing Aldi to Tasmania will do for struggling Tasmanian families. The national competition watchdog says that bringing Aldi to town saves people, on average, $890. For any family I know, that money would be life-changing.

Tassie is stuck under the thumb of the two major supermarket giants: Coles and Woolies. If we want better prices, we need more supermarket options. We have 78 independent grocery stores, compared to 32 Woolies stores and 32 Coles stores. The big two keep saying, 'There's nothing to see here,' but it's all smoke and mirrors. It's not about the number of stores they have but where they put them. Tassie has the highest density of Coles stores compared to any other state or territory. The average Coles store is 2.5 kilometres from any other Coles store, so when a new Coles opens up they're not giving more people access to a supermarket; Coles are just stacking stores on top of one another and competing with themselves. Why would any business spend all that money in operating costs just to eat into its own profit? Coles and Woolies do this to stop other supermarkets from setting up shop in prime areas. They would rather lose money than let a competitor come in. It's like a school bully saying, 'You can't sit with us at lunch,' only in this case Coles and Woolies are shutting out the other supermarkets from coming to Tasmania.

Competitors like Aldi won't be viable here while this duopoly keeps getting away with this very bad behaviour. Public pressure is a big part of calling out the big two on their 'mean girls' attitude. That's why I have a petition in Tasmania to bring Aldi to Tasmania. More than 1,000 Tasmanians have already jumped on board to show how keen they are for cheaper groceries. As with any good idea, there are plenty of people who think it just won't work.

Let's rule out some of the reasons Aldi might not come to Tassie. One is that we're too small. Tassie has a pretty small population of only half a million people, but the ACT is the same size as us, and they have 14 Aldis. The town of Yass, just outside the ACT border, has a population of just under 7,000 people, and guess what? They have their very own Aldi. It is like Georgetown or New Norfolk having an Aldi. This proves that Aldi can survive and thrive in smaller regional towns.

Here's another argument: the freight costs are too high. The huge cost of freight across the Bass Strait is enough to scare any business off. That's why I headed up a Senate inquiry into the federal government's freight scheme. It found that the system was broken and failing Tasmanian businesses. There's a final report with heaps of recommendations on how the scheme can be better and fairer for businesses. It's on Labor and the coalition to take those ideas and get them moving. It's also a chance for Aldi to open itself up to new supply chains with local suppliers. After all, if you visit Tassie, you know we have the best produce going around.

A third argument: why support a German company over local retailers? I'm the first person to back in my local retailers—they're amazing—but if we want lower grocery prices Aldi is the one at a scale large enough to pressure Woolworths and Coles. We have evidence to show lower grocery prices when Aldi comes to town. We don't have the same evidence for when IGA moves in.

Tasmanians are desperate for cheaper grocery prices. Family budgets are too tight. I remember what it was like as a single mum, trying to cover all the essentials. There were times when I had to pick and choose which bills to pay on time. For the ones I couldn't pay, I begged companies for a payment plan. When it came to groceries, I tried to use home brand and cut back where I could. But it would always leave a gaping hole in the budget, and I remember how much it wore me down. The constant worry about whether I'd be able to pay my bills and afford to feed my family was a heavy weight on my shoulders. That's why I'm doing everything I can to bring cheaper grocery prices to Tasmania. We deserve to have what every other state in the country has. So come on, Aldi; throw us a bone.