Media Release

KAP Leader and Federal Member for Kennedy Bob Katter today applauded whistle-blower supermarket suppliers and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) after the watchdog submitted fresh allegations to the courts about Coles’ mistreatment of suppliers and ‘unconscionable conduct’.

The ACCC alleges the supermarket giant pursued suppliers to make them pay for ‘profit gaps’ – the difference between actual sales and internal product sales targets.

“People sometimes forget that our manufacturers are in an impossible situation in Australia. They, like our farmers, only have the two supermarket giants to sell to.

“It is extraordinary that these manufacturing suppliers have had the courage to speak up.

"In the past we could only find two farmers to speak up about the supermarket duopoly and both of them had effectively gone out of farming – such is the fear of the supermarket giants,” he said.

Mr Katter has applauded the ACCC for lodging these court proceedings which follows the ACCC launching separate court proceedings in May against Coles.

“The ACCC are to be praised on their action against Coles.

"This is the second action it the last 12 months. It is naive to expect companies, when they have this amount of market power, not to use it to their own advantage.

“The supermarket giant’s advantage means the disadvantage of the consumer and/or the supplier.

“Every farmer in Australia knows what he is copping as a result of almost monopoly power. The blame does not lie with aggressive ‘business suits’ they are doing what they are paid to do, maximise profits for the corporation.

“It’s the Governments job to ensure that competition works for the greater good.

“Because of the Government’s refusal to act on the greatest concentration of market power of any country in the world, supermarket giants are reputedly taking over 20 cents in every dollar spent in Australia.

“Where is the government in all of this?” Mr Katter asked.

Mr Katter believes legislation similar to the Robinson-Patman Act from the Unites States needs to be introduced in Australia to prohibit anti-competitive practices, specifically on price discrimination.

“Clearly there needs to be immediate implementation of similar legislation here in Australia,” Mr Katter said.

Last year Mr Katter introduced the Reducing Supermarket Dominance Bill 2013 in Parliament, which essentially reduces the market share of Australia's supermarket oligopoly to 22 per cent.