House debates Matters of Public Importance
Supermarket Competition
David Bradbury Lindsay, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Treasurer
3:27 pm
Perhaps I could address the issue of divestiture, which is at the heart of this matter of public importance. There are a whole series of very difficult questions that proponents of divestiture have to answer. I have heard many discussions, but I have not heard too many answers to these questions. The first one, which I have already identified, relates to market definition: what is the market? Secondly, what percentage of market share is appropriate, and what is not? I have just gone through the figures: 40 per cent for Woolworths and about 30 per cent for Coles. Let's just say, for argument's sake, that someone says 25 per cent is the appropriate figure.
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