Reducing the oligopolistic market concentration that is gobbling up Australia’s food retailing industry was the number three priority on Bob’s 20-point list of policy demands to both major political parties after the 2010 federal election produced a “hung parliament”.
The restoration of a fair global playing field for our nation’s farmers – who receive an average subsidy/tariff support of about 5 per cent while their competitors in OECD countries enjoy average support levels of more than 35 per cent – was among the Federal Member for Kennedy and Australian Party leader’s top 10.
Throughout almost four decades of service as a member of parliament, Mr Katter has been one of Australia’s most vocal advocates on such issues, both in the public and political arena – often risking his political career by swimming against the tide of free trade marketism that has in the past quarter-century become an obsession of the modern-day ALP/LNP political party ‘corporations’.
The Americans are screaming blue murder because WalMart and their competitor have now reached 23.1 per cent market share. Here we have two supermarkets with up to 90 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.
