Chris Bowen (Prospect, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

I make the point that public servants do their job, without fear or favour, for the government of the day, and their integrity should not be questioned by anybody.

In relation to GROCERYchoice, let me use this opportunity to put some things on the record. We have seen 3.3 million hits on the GROCERYchoice website. What does that mean? It means that people are craving more information about grocery prices. One side of the House wants to give people more information and one side of the House wants to take it away. It does not mean that all those responsible for the 3.3 million hits think that the website is perfect and there is enough information on it. I said, on the day that we launched the website, that we want to put more information on it as we go and that this is just the first step. We want to work with consumer groups and retailers to get much more information on it as we go—and that is what we are doing. But one side of the House wants to give people more information and one side of the House wants to take it away. The opposition says that a website giving people information about grocery prices is a waste of time, even though there are 3.3 million hits to show that people are interested in having more information. People want more guidance as to where the cheapest groceries are in their area, and we want to give it to them.

Comments have been made about the Chairman of the ACCC, Mr Samuel. I need to put on the record that the ACCC is not one man; the ACCC is seven commissioners and 683 staff who implement, administer and enforce the Trade Practices Act. They play a very important role. The chair, Mr Samuel, is not somebody who has been associated traditionally with this side of politics. He has been active in politics in the past but not on this side of politics. But he has served the Australian people professionally and appropriately through governments of both sides, and I think that some members opposite resent it. I think some members resent the fact that somebody who has traditionally been associated with Liberal politics feels it appropriate to professionally serve a Labor government and to advise it on how to improve competition in Australia. That seems to drive those opposite crazy—and shame on them. Whether you agree or disagree with him, whether you think he has done a good job or a bad job, he has done the best job he can for the Australian people. He has served the Australian people and promoted competition as best he can and as best the ACCC can. It seems to me that members opposite resent the role that he has played. He continues to argue for improvements to the competition law—improvements that the previous government refused to make for the ACCC.

We take the view that, when the ACCC—the regulator—says, ‘These are the tools that we need to do the job,’ you need to have a very good reason not to give it those tools. You need to have a very good reason to say, ‘No, we’re not going to give you those tools.’ If it calls for the criminalisation of cartels, you should seriously consider it. You should examine the issues and weigh them up, but you need to have a good reason to say no. If it calls for the Trade Practices Act to be strengthened, likewise you should seriously consider it and weigh it up, but you need a good reason to say no. If it calls for something like Fuelwatch, the same process should apply. When it says, ‘We have the closest thing to collusion that we can get in the Australian economy without it being illegal and here’s a mechanism that we think can fix it,’ you need to have very serious reasons for saying no.

The ACCC does not have an easy job in times of heightened inflation. It is very easy to get up and say, ‘Inflation is high and the cost of living is going up; therefore, the competition watchdog is not doing its job.’ We could all say that, but it is not going to help consumers one jot, when around the world you have high inflation, and cabinets and governments grappling with cost of living pressures. When inflation in Australia is at a 16-year high and there are issues around the world in relation to cost of living pressures on families, the job of the ACCC is not an easy one. But we on this side of the House back the regulator to do that job and are giving it the tools it needs to do it.

Members opposite, after 12 years of inaction, can sit around and laugh and mock and say, ‘You’re watching this and you’re watching that and it doesn’t do any good.’ We are in there having a go, while those opposite ignored the problems. We are in there having a go, dealing with competition. We are in there having a go, saying, ‘Well, if we’ve got as close as it can get to collusion while still being legal, we’d better do something about it,’ because we are pro-competition. Competition helps Australian battlers. Consumers benefit from competition, which was ignored by those opposite. (Time expired)

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