Quotes attributable to NFF President, David Jochinke
We welcome today’s release of Select Committee on Supermarket Prices final report.
This inquiry has been an important opportunity to shine a light on the challenges being faced by many Australian producers.
We’ve long argued that the Australian food and grocery supply chain lacks adequate competition. We see supermarkets and retailers using their market power to harm farmers through lower prices, unfair risk burden and supply uncertainty. This places significant pressure on small, family-run businesses.
Today’s report is another piece of evidence to support the challenges being faced by thousands of Australian farmers, in particular those supplying perishable goods.
The NFF is working through the extensive report, but welcomes a number of the Committee’s recommendations which closely align with calls from the sector. These include making the Food and Grocery Code of Conduct mandatory, extending the Code to cover major retailers of ‘Greenlife’ products, and putting in place significant penalties for breaches.
Further, we strongly welcome the report’s recommendations for continued reform of Australia’s mergers framework, and an increase in resourcing and strengthening of powers of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.
These recommendations build on previous reports including the ACCC Perishable Agricultural Goods Inquiry in 2020, creating a clear evidence base for these recommendations to be urgently actioned by Government.
Further, we expect that the other supermarket sector inquiries currently being undertaken, including the Review of the Food and Grocery Code of Conduct, and the ACCC’s Supermarkets Inquiry 2024-25 will only add further weight to the argument that competition settings need strengthening.
The NFF will read through the report in detail and looks forward to working with all members of Parliament to ensure we achieve better outcomes for Australian growers.
