Jumping back to an interview we covered earlier, Independent MP Monique Ryan and Nationals senator Bridget McKenzie spoke to Nine’s Today about the Coalition’s proposal to introduce divestiture powers to the supermarket industry.
The proposal has been the subject of renewed debate after the ACCC announced it would sue Coles and Woolworths in the Federal Court over alleged price gouging practices in breach of consumer law.
Ryan told Today that the news was “really disturbing” given the “price gouging” has probably contributed to inflation and increased interest rates, but that divestiture was not the answer.
“We need more competition, not less. Divestiture would actually decrease competition and allow supermarkets to increase prices even more,” Ryan said.
“We do need the ACCC and similar organisations to keep an eye on the industry. This is appalling behaviour by the supermarkets.”
Nationals Senator Bridget McKenzie, one of the main proponents of the Coalition’s divestiture policy, said, “It’s one of the tools that need to be in the toolkit”.
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“The ACCC itself and previous chairs of the ACCC have all come out and said that they believe divestiture powers should be part of the toolkit.
She then sarcastically congratulated Labor for its policy to introduce a mandatory supermarket code of conduct.
“Slow clap for Labor, you know, implementing a mandatory code of conduct for supermarkets after the next election. I mean, this is a behaviour that we’ve known has been going on for years, the coalition’s had a strong plan on the table for months and months, and months,” McKenzie said.
“The real difference between the two plans is under Labor’s plan, the biggest hit to the supermarkets will be a $10 million fine under us, It’ll be a divestiture power.”