Nick McKim (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

At the risk of mixing my culinary metaphors, that was a blancmange as well as a word salad, Minister. I chaired the Senate Select Committee on Supermarket Prices. Please don't give me a lecture about the competition status in the supermarket sector. I'll going to back it in that the evidence that we heard through a long and comprehensive inquiry—we exposed to the Australian people the perfidy of Coles and Woolworths and the fact that, together, they have about two-thirds of the share of the supermarket sector in Australia. I'm going to back it in that that evidence says quite enough to the Australian people about the lack of competition in the supermarket sector and the resultant opportunities that Coles and Woolies have, which they are availing themselves of to price gouge Australian shoppers. We know all that. Let me tell you another thing, the fuel wholesale sector is not all that much more competitive than the supermarket sector in Australia. But that is actually not relevant to the question that I asked you. Minister, do you claim this bill addresses price gouging in the fuel sector or not?