E&OE TRANSCRIPT
Topics: Australians hospitalised in Thailand; ACCC supermarket hearings; Cost of living; Shrinkflation; Competition.
SARAH ABO, HOST: Welcome back. Well, two Melbourne teenagers are on life support in Thailand after their drinks were allegedly spiked with methanol at a hostel in Laos. The girl's parents now enroute to be by their bedside. Joining us to discuss today's headlines is Minister for Social Services Amanda Rishworth and Nationals Senator Bridget McKenzie. Good morning to you both. Amanda, this is just so awful. A 19-year-old simply enjoying a holiday when this happened. How is the Government helping in this situation?
AMANDA RISHWORTH, MINISTER FOR SOCIAL SERVICES: This is an absolute parent’s worst nightmare for their children, or young people, to go overseas and to get that call. The Government is providing consular assistance to the family – as is appropriate, of course. Really terribly difficult, difficult circumstances. And certainly my thoughts are with the friends and families of these two girls. And it's just an awful reminder also that when you travel overseas, the environment is not the same here as it is in Australia. It is difficult and you've got to be very conscious of that.
SARAH ABO: Absolutely. Amanda. I think as you said, there for the parents. But you know, we've all been there, right? Like we've all been backpacking around the world, we've been to these kinds of hostels and pubs and it's just such a, it can be such a risky environment, Bridget. Two Swedish nationals have reportedly already died. Ten other victims apparently in hospital with the same kind of poisoning. It really is a stark warning for travellers.
BRIDGET MCKENZIE, SENATOR: Yeah, absolutely. And I echo Amanda's words. I think it's every parent's worst nightmare and it just shows that when you are in a developed country such as ours with strict environmental and regulatory regimes that ensure that that can't happen and shouldn't happen and that businesses will be held to account should they do that sort of behaviour, that when you are travelling in other countries those regulatory regimes don't exist and so real added caution needs to be taken. But hopefully they're back with us soon and their parents get there quickly.
SARAH ABO: Yeah, let's hope they get the best care they can over there. Well, let's move on. And the ACCC chair has intervened in public hearings to grill former Woolworths boss Brad Banducci over competition. Amanda, Banducci claimed he had to turn things around back in 2015 and make Woolies more competitive to increase its market share. But the consumer watchdog said that proves that he was picking and choosing when it comes to price points. What do you reckon?
AMANDA RISHWORTH: I think this inquiry is very important. The ACCC is doing its job of making sure that there’s scrutiny on our supermarkets. And, importantly, we are wanting to take action on the supermarkets. We have taken action by making the voluntary code mandatory, by looking at our merger laws, increasing competitiveness with the states and territories and importantly addressing things like shrinkflation, which is also about looking at higher penalties when supermarkets try and sell us less for the same price. This is a really important inquiry and important that the ACCC is doing its job and critically important that we tackle this.
SARAH ABO: Yes, shrinkflation. And that's a hard one to say – that's for sure. But I guess this basically proves that there is not enough competition if the supermarkets are able to choose the price point, what they're selling to consumers. I mean, Bridget, you've also got this land banking, right. So, the purchasing of sites for strategic reasons and then those supermarkets just basically sitting on those vacant sites waiting to use them at some point.
BRIDGET MCKENZIE: Yeah, absolutely, Sarah. And blocking out competitors from actually setting up shop in the suburb or the regional city which they've set up in. Look, the reality is shoppers are struggling with food going up in excess of 12 per cent since Labor came to power. We've seen inflation going in the wrong direction because they won't get their spending under control. We do need competition for both farmers and consumers, both ends of the supply chain. We've got a bill in Parliament right now to deal with this with really tough penalties, a supermarket commissioner, and to deal with that land banking specifically to actually split the supermarkets up and to actually make sure divestiture powers are part of our competition framework when it comes to supermarkets. So, I'd encourage Amanda to walk into caucus today and get the Labor Party to support our bill so we can actually do something tangible to assist competition in the country.
AMANDA RISHWORTH: Well, the trouble with that proposal, unfortunately, Bridget, is that it is just a thought bubble. It’s chaotic and actually could lead to…
BRIDGET MCKENZIE: It's legislation in the Parliament. It's in the House of Representatives now.
AMANDA RISHWORTH: Well, what I'm about to tell you is that reputable people have said that your proposal would lead to less competition, less actual rights for consumers and less for our farmers.
BRIDGET MCKENZIE: And I've got an army of experts that say otherwise, Amanda. That’s why it’s a debate.
AMANDA RISHWORTH: Because if you think about it, if you force, you know, a local regional supermarket to sell up, who buys it? If no one buys it, there isn't a supermarket there. So this a practical problem…
BRIDGET MCKENZIE: Amanda, stop protecting the big boys.
AMANDA RISHWORTH: Oh well Bridget, that is just not true.
BRIDGET MCKENZIE: Qantas, supermarkets…
AMANDA RISHWORTH: We are looking at unintended consequences here. You can't just have a thought bubble and hope it’s going to work in your Soviet-style proposal.
BRIDGET MCKENZIE: There is legislation, Amanda. Stop being ridiculous.
SARAH ABO: Alright, you’ve obviously got opposing views on this. But I think we can all agree that consumers have had an absolute gutful and they just think need a fair deal when they go to the supermarket to feed their families. We've run out of time. Again, thank you both so much for joining me this morning. Appreciate it.