Partial transcript of media conference with Greens Senator Nick McKim, Parliament Lawns, Hobart, 20 February 2024.
Nick McKim
I’ll just offer a few thoughts on supermarkets post the Four Corners revelations last night and also some observations on the Hunter frigate program if anyone’s interested in those, happy to take questions on any issues of the day.
Firstly, a response to Four Corners. The CEOs of the supermarket corporations are on multi-million dollar salaries and they’ve got to do better than getting up and walking out and ducking for cover when the going gets tough. They’re are on multi-million dollar salaries these CEOs, there are millions of Australians that are struggling to put food on the table yet when the questions get hard what we get is ducking for cover and a refusal to explain their pricing policies and their massive profits.
Now a couple of issues that have come from Four Corners last night. Firstly, competition in the supermarket sector. For the CEO of Woolworths to try and claim that there is enough competition in Australia’s supermarket sector, he might as well argue that black as white, and war is peace. That one massively fails the pub test. There is clearly not enough competition in Australia’s supermarket sector; the two majors Coles and Woolworths own two thirds of the market share. In many parts of the country, if anyone wants a decent choice of food and groceries, they have no choice but to shop at either Coles or Woolworths.
This claim that Australia has enough competition in the supermarket sector is simply bullshit. And it was called out by people who know better, including Rod Sims, the distinguished former head of the ACCC. So I look forward to getting those CEOs in front of the Senate inquiry. Because quite frankly, some of the rubbish that they put forward on Four Corners needs to be interrogated, and they need to be held to account for their multi billion dollars in profits that they collectively make, while millions of Australians are struggling to put food on the table.
Secondly, on profits. It is a simple fact that the profits being made by Coles and Woolworths are significantly higher than many supermarkets in similar jurisdictions around the world. Coles and Woolworths are profiteering, and millions of Australians are struggling to put food on the table, something’s got to change. And that’s why the Greens put in place this Senate inquiry.
Happy to take questions on that, and on the Hunter frigates program. This is a failed program. It is the definition of insanity for Labor to ask the same people that stuffed it up so badly in the first place to now try and fix it. It’s a failed program. Labor should bin it and Labor should stop writing blank cheques for the military industrial complex. There are plenty of good uses for $45 billion, like offering people genuine cost of living relief and helping people who are really struggling.
Journalist – unidentified
Firstly on supermarkets, what can the government do? As you say there’s a Senate inquiry, but what can government do to help promote competition and stop price gouging?
Nick McKim
The people who are struggling the most in Australia are people on income support, and they desperately need a lift in income support. Labor needs to understand the degree that people are suffering under and the urgent need to lift income support in Australia.
In terms of supermarkets and competition policy, we’ll be looking at things like stronger anti-merger laws, but also importantly, divestiture powers, which would effectively allow for a smashing up of the supermarket duopoly in Australia. So there are a range of public policy solutions. We’ll work through the Senate committee inquiry, and we’ll see where we land on that.
Journalist – unidentified
Both Coles and Woolworths are pretty enormous ownership groups at the moment, that have a lot of power, is that a situation that can be easily wriggled out of?
Nick McKim
Well, Coles and Woolworths ruthlessly use their market power to do over farmers, to do over their workers, and ultimately to do over their shoppers. That’s the simple facts of the matter. For them to claim that there is a good level of competition in the supermarket sector in Australia is utter bullshit. There is not enough competition in the supermarket sector; that is broadly recognised by the Australian people and it’s broadly recognised by experts in competition, including Mr Sims.
Now, in terms of whether they can wriggle out of anything, let’s wait and see. Let’s wait and see how they go at the Senate inquiry. But I can tell you this. They can run from the Senate inquiry but they won’t be able to hide at the end of the day. Any attempt to duck for cover will be met with very short shrift.
Journalist – unidentified
There’s that aspect of pressure on farmers to accept low prices compounded by that duopoly. What should be done to fix that?
Nick McKim
Well, this is one of the key areas of focus for the Senate committee. The power that the major supermarket chains have over farmers and primary producers is one of the major areas we will be looking at. There is no doubt there is a massive power imbalance here. Many farmers are too scared to even come out and talk about it because they are afraid of the retribution that they’ll face from Coles and Woolworths.
Nevertheless, we are hearing from farmers, we are hearing from peak bodies who represent primary producers in this country, and that issue will be front and centre in our mind. There is a massive power imbalance between Coles and Woolworths when they are purchasing from Australia’s farmers, and that’s something that needs to be rectified.
Journalist – unidentified
And on the mainland they have Aldi, we don’t have that in Tassie. Do you think it’s worse here, that issue is worse?
Nick McKim
Parts of the country, like Tasmania, who don’t have Aldi, are suffering from an even higher degree of market concentration in the hands of Coles and Woolworths, the giant supermarket corporations. And those issues around lack of competition apply to farmers, they apply to workers, and they ultimately apply to shoppers. That’s why we need to look at ways to generate more competition in the supermarket sector, including making large parts of regional Australia that currently don’t have Aldi and have competition issues as a result, seeing what can be done to encourage people like Aldi to invest in more parts of Australia.
Journalist – unidentified
[inaudible] Coles misleading their customers?
Nick McKim
It’s not okay for Coles to mislead their consumers. It’s just not okay and it needs to end. Can I say this about Tasmania: our clean green ground is something that has been fought long and hard, particularly by the Greens split by hundreds of thousands of Tasmanians. It is a valuable asset for the state and any effort by giant supermarket corporations to basically adopt that brand or kidnap our brand need to be met with very forceful action by the Tasmanian government.
