Media Release

KAP Federal Member for Kennedy Bob Katter has today urged farmers to lobby their local MPs to vote for three pieces of legislation crucial to the survival of Australian agriculture.

The three KAP Private Members Bills – to return arbitrated prices for milk; label imported produce with potential health hazard warnings; and reduce supermarket share to no more than 20% – are being introduced into the House of Representatives in a bid to restore the rights of farmers and small business against the might of a supermarket share concentration unseen anywhere else in the world.

"As shown by the headlines today – and I quote, ‘Woolworths squeezes suppliers with brutal demands’ – the continuous squeeze on farmers dramatically worsens a situation that has already led to a farmer committing suicide every four days in Australia. And no-one seems to care," said Mr Katter.

"But let every person in our nation care about this: we used to export $200m a year of fisheries products, we are now net importers of $200m of fishery products. In fruit and vegetables we were net exporters of $1000m a year, now we’re net importers of $250m a year. And it’s similar with pork.

"Within three years, this country will be a net importer of food overall – unable to feed ourselves. And one of the worst mechanisms militating towards this is free trade in line with a closed Australian market.

"The Americans are screaming blue murder because WalMart and their competitor have now reached 23.1% market share. Here we have two supermarkets with 92 per cent, so if they decide to cut down the amount of money they are going to pay farmers, they can, because there is no competition.

"On top of this, they are bringing in product from overseas. Yet it has been revealed that the Chinese are putting formaldehyde into cabbages. And we all know that the antibiotic streptomycin is being used on foreign-grown apples to fight fire blight; and that water contaminated with raw sewage is being put in overseas prawn farms.

"But nothing whatsoever is being done by the Australian Government. Our three pieces of legislation are the most elementary things that any responsible government would do.

"So what we’re doing now is asking all of the farmers in Australia to go to their local MP, and tell him or her politely that, ‘you will vote for these three measures or we will hand out against you at next election and raise money to work against you’.

"This country will no longer accept a pell-mell rush into not being able to feed itself, to be a net importer of food. And this country will not accept a continuation where two giant supermarket chains are able to cut the price to the supplier and increase the price to the consumer, because there is no free market where there is a duopoly.

"No intelligent person on Earth would say you have a free market operating when two people in the marketplace have 92 per cent share. It’s outrageous and it cannot be allowed to continue. Now is fighting time."