Thursday, 31 October 2024

 Aiv PUGLIELLI (North-Eastern Metropolitan) (10:15): People in this country are getting scurvy because they cannot afford fresh and healthy food. This now rare disease should only come up as the scourge of sailors from days of yore. It was a very serious killer of seamen in the 16th to 18th centuries, with around 2 million seamen killed during this period, but it should not be afflicting people in our country, in this state, in this day and age. Doctors have said this is happening because of the ever-rising costs of living. People do not have the money to buy fresh fruit and fresh vegetables. They are not getting enough vitamin C, and they are getting scurvy like the seamen did. This is because Coles and Woolworths continue to price gouge. The ACCC is literally taking them to court for it. They have been caught exploiting consumers under the cover of high inflation and using fake discount claims to rake in profits, and the impact of this is that people are literally getting sick because they cannot afford food. It is time we held these supermarkets to account. It is time we reined in their profits and forced them to make food affordable.