Queensland Premier Steven Miles has made a shock look at a parliamentary probe into grocery store worth gauging amid a grilling of grocery store executives from Coles and Woolworths.
While Mr Miles was not a member of the committee, he crashed the inquiry about three hours into Monday’s periods and referred to as on grocery store giants to have extra accountability to prospects.
“I think this goes to what is most frustrating for policymakers and for consumers, (that) every time we hear from spokespeople from … Coles or Woolworths, they insist that they’ve done nothing wrong,” mentioned Mr Miles, amid a grilling of Coles public affairs head Adam Fitzgibbons.
“I think what Queenslanders would like to hear is a supermarket boss say we could have done better and we will do better, and these are things we will do differently. And I think certainly my frustration is we don’t get to hear that.”
Mr Fitzgibbons countered Mr Miles and maintained Coles has “listened to customers”.
“One of the messages that I’ve been saying here today is that we’re very much committed to being part of the solution,” he mentioned.
“I think there is a high degree of confusion within the sector, which I think all of us can do a better job of explaining how the sector operates.”
Mr Miles additionally straight requested Coles chief working officer Matt Swindel for a public dedication to get “more fresh fruits and vegies into schools,” to which Mr Swindel agreed.
MP’s spray at Coles over ‘retribution’ ways
Earlier, committee chair and Bundaberg MP Tom Smith accused supermarkets of making a “culture of retribution” on farmers and growers that pressured producers to promote their merchandise on the “lowest price”.
“We are seeing farmers have the price of their product being reduced time and time and time again by a manipulated market from the duopoly and they are losing out,” he mentioned, chatting with Mr Fitzgibbons.
Mr Smith additionally requested Coles to think about an “independent review” of the way it decided contracts with suppliers, which Mr Fitzgibbons mentioned the corporate would “consider”.
The Coles government mentioned the grocery store would “encourage the committee to participate with us in those discussions … and see first hand how it is we do that”.
Mr Smith mentioned the federal government was already doing that, with farmers reporting to the inquiry that they felt “cheated” and “threatened”.
“Farmers in Queensland are terrified by Coles and Woolworths, and Coles and Woolworths are at the end of the day, their lifeblood, and there needs to be a greater commitment,” he mentioned.
Senior employees from Woolworths will even seem at Monday’s probe, with the corporate’s chief industrial officer Paul Harker and Queensland state director of operations Danny Baldwin set to face the committee from 1pm.
The inquiry was convened by the Premier, who has vocally accused grocery store giants of worth gouging and shrinkflation (when grocery merchandise get smaller whereas their costs stay the identical or improve) and their impact on farmers and first producers.
Source: www.perthnow.com.au
