By Aaron Cordy
SUPERMARKET pricing is an issue that won’t go away. The indifference shown by the supermarket conglomerates affects most aspects of daily life because the simple fact is as a society we have allowed them almost total control of the goods we need daily, from food and household goods to the clothing we wear and more.
Last Thursday the Committee for Great Shepparton (C4GS) had a guest speaker from the NFF Horticulture Council Competition Taskforce, head of Government and Relations and Advocacy, Jeremy Griffith, to discuss the issue of supermarket price gouging. With a focus on finding a better share in the profits for framers who have been left struggling while Coles and Woolworths rake in Billion-dollar profits.
After a round of meetings in Canberra recently with members of all political parties, Mr Griffith was optimistic that change was on the way. The C4GS audience kept a more realistic view on the matter, with many people present having some form of personal experience with how supermarket profiteering has crippled many local farmers and businesses.
Zucchini farmer and local businessman, Dhami Singh, knows how supermarkets manipulate and control market prices. He had to mulch part of his crop last year when Coles and Woolworths held the prices of zucchinis high, which meant for many farmers it was cheaper to abandon ripe fruit than pay workers to pick it at a loss they couldn’t cover.
“The pros and cons of whatever is coming in the future, I was interested to know. I would say he was really knowledgeable even, but I’m not really sure how it is going to affect running our business… or when I’m going to see the change,” said Mr Singh.
Mr Griffith talked about enforcing market caps on the supermarkets that are designed to still grow and affect share prices, among other options to help growers.
“It’s a massive challenge, and I say that it’s been going on for 30 to 40 years. So, I think we’ve been losing that battle pretty consistently ongoing for a long, long period of time,” said Mr Griffith.
“All we can do is just have a go… if we want to make a change. At the same time, it’s not an easy egg to unscramble.”
With an election to be called anytime before September 2025 and the cost of living on everyone’s mind, there will likely be many promises made about supermarket pricing from all sides of government, but will an elected government be bold enough to enforce real change for the people when they have allowed this system to grow and thrive for over thirty years, under serval governments of all political persuasions.
