Letter to the Editor

Dear Editor,

We were unsurprised recently when we heard that BP is doing it tough against the retailing giants who are strangling the market and crushing competition.

We have been warning Australians for many years that if left unchecked the supermarket giants will spread their tentacles into all aspects of retail, smothering competition and then be free to charge every-day Australian whatever they wanted for their bread, milk, hardware, liquor, fuel etc.

But if BP has announced they are struggling with the might of the duopoly’s ‘shopper docket’ campaign spare a thought for the independent retailers of petrol.

The Australasian Convenience and Petroleum Marketers Association cite ACCC data which indicates the number of independent service stations has fallen by 16 per cent between the 2009 and 2012 financial years.

This is disastrous for competition in pricing for every day Australians. Once competition is trampled and decimated the two supermarkets will be free to charge whatever they want for petrol.

We introduced to Parliament laws to qualitatively reduce the stranglehold of the giants on Australia'sgrocery retailing and food production; this together would reduce the market share of all retailinggiants to a maximum 20 per cent each within six years, with a Food Retailing Commissioner ensuringcompliance.

Fruit and vegetable mark-ups are in the order of 300%. Under a fairness tribunal, orderly (statutory)marketing arrangements allowed sugar, milk and eggs to be marked up 80%.

However the corporate-controlled ALP-LNP parties voted this down, putting another nail in the coffinfor families already struggling to pay for every day essential items.

Bob Katter
Federal Member for Kennedy