Wednesday, 29 May 2024

Public Accounts and Estimates Committee

Report on the 2023–24 Budget Estimates

Sam HIBBINS (Prahran) (10:27): I rise to speak on the report on the 2023–24 budget estimates, and I am sure after the most recent estimates hearings we will have another weighty tome and important report scrutinising the budget coming up. Can I acknowledge everyone who was involved in the recent estimates hearings and again put on the record the need to reform the Public Accounts and Estimates Committee and estimates hearings to make them much more useful, to reduce the number of Dorothy Dixers and to allow much more much-needed scrutiny of the budget.

The 2023–24 report into the budget estimates – and I am sure we will see further commentary in the upcoming report as well – talks about rising inflation. It states that high inflation is now being driven by price rises across a broad range of market goods and services. But yet again what is missing in the previous budget and in this one is anything from government to actually tackle higher prices and to actually bring down prices. What is clearly missing from the government’s response is a specific policy around prices. Price regulation is the remit of state governments, and there are examples and there are times when state governments have taken action in times of high inflation to protect consumers and to stop price gouging. Right now, with high inflation and with supermarkets taking advantage of high inflation and actually increasing their profit margins, is the exact time and the exact right circumstances for direct government intervention on prices. How much more evidence do we have to hear about the appalling behaviour of the supermarket duopoly ripping off customers, ripping off suppliers, ripping off workers and passing along increased costs and then some to the consumers and increasing profit margins, posting maximum profits while people are suffering – of a duopoly that is locking out would-be competitors? How many more stories do we need to hear of people who cannot afford food, people who are skipping meals, people who are facing constant stress, constant worry and constant anxiety about high prices? How much more do we have to hear? How much more do the government have to hear before they are prepared to take action?

We need our governments to stand up for people and to step in and intervene in the economy when they are being ripped off and when they are facing hardship. For the government to continually say, ‘It’s not up to us – competition policy is federal,’ when we are actually talking about prices policy is flat-out wrong. But there are also times when they say, ‘Oh well, we could, but we wouldn’t want to.’ The fact is that they are not touching an industry dominated by two players that is seeing everyone pay more. What are they going to say next? ‘Well, we could have acted, but it’s too late.’ Now is the time to fight back against the supermarket duopoly.

Just yesterday the Greens released an exposure draft of the supermarket industry bill, which would regulate supermarket prices to stop them from price gouging. The bill shows Victorians how it can be done and shows the state Labor government what they need to do, and it is actually based on previous legislation that state Labor governments have implemented here in Victoria. This is a bill that would give the state government the power to declare a grocery item an essential item. That would then give the Essential Services Commission the power to set a maximum profit margin for an essential grocery item. We have already got the Essential Services Commission, which has the power to regulate prices on essentials like energy and water. It has got enforcement powers for breaches. Groceries need to be treated like the essential items that they are. For too long people going into supermarkets have been faced with unfair price hikes on basics like bread and dairy. It is next to impossible to do a cheap shop anymore. I urge the government to stand on the side of people and regulate supermarket prices to stop them from price gouging.