Andrew Leigh

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
DOORSTOP
PARLIAMENT HOUSE
TUESDAY, 2 JULY 2024

SUBJECTS: Coalition’s chaos on competition policy, Dutton’s dud divestiture policy, Teamwork.

ASSISTANT MINISTER ANDREW LEIGH: On the issue of nuclear power we've, in recent weeks, seen the National Party tail wagging the Liberal Party dog. A policy which was not supported by experts has nonetheless been backed by the Coalition party room against the interests of the Australian people. We're seeing that again today the hopeless, hapless, friendless policy on competition put forward by the National Party and the Liberal Party today.

In the Coalition's time in office we saw one of the most appalling decades of productivity and living standards growth in the postwar era, and a big reason for that is they dropped the ball on competition. Since winning office, we've had an active competition reform agenda, probably the most active of any Australian government since Federation. We've banned unfair contract terms and increased penalties. We've set about reforming our merger system, in the biggest shake up of our merger laws in 50 years. We're looking seriously at the issue of non-compete clauses. We've asked the competition watchdog to look at supermarket competition from a consumer perspective. And we funded CHOICE to carry out quarterly grocery price monitoring to put information in the hands of Australian shoppers.

The Liberals and the Nationals set up the Food and Grocery Code to be a voluntary code. We've decided to make it a mandatory code with multimillion dollar penalties. Today we saw two announcements from the Opposition. First of all, we saw them say that they would back a mandatory Food and Grocery Code, which is terrific, except that they had a decade in office to do it, and it took them more than a week since Labor announced our position. They are once again behind the eight-ball. A voluntary Food and Grocery code was good enough for the Liberals and Nationals in office. Only a mandatory code is good enough for Labor.

The other part was their announcement saying that they would give breakup powers to the competition watchdog in the area of supermarkets. Let's be clear, divestiture was considered and rejected by the Hilmer review, by the Dawson review, by the Harper review and by the Emerson review. The National Farmers Federation don't support divestiture powers. The Australian Council of Trade Unions don't support divestiture powers.

Craig Emerson's review said that a divestiture power for supermarkets could make competition worse and he asked the basic question: ‘who would buy the supermarket chains if you ask a major to sell?’. Peter Dutton and Angus Taylor couldn't answer that. More evidence that yet again the Shadow Treasurer has been rolled when it comes to a key economic policy issue. Don't forget we started this year with Peter Dutton calling on Australians to boycott Woolworths, Australia's biggest private sector employer. Now he's calling for powers to break up Woolworths.

He's gone from boycotts to break ups without once considering the impact on household budgets. We've got a policy which like nuclear is friendless among experts, which has been put together by hapless ministers looking for a headline rather than for serious policy reforms, and which is hopelessly constructed when it comes to the policy detail. If you can't answer basic questions about your policies, you don't deserve to be putting them in front of the Australian people. Very happy to take questions.

JOURNALIST: Former ACCC Commissioner Alan Fels says the whole point of divestitures isn’t even breaking up the companies but having that big stick there. We've seen meat prices stay high when wholesale prices have dropped. Isn't it the case that Woolworths and Coles don't fear any penalties at the moment and they need something to fear?

LEIGH: If a power is not used it's not going to have power as a big stick. If you look at the United States it has been a very long time since the Bell breakup, and the Microsoft breakup was rejected by the courts. This is a power which is rarely used in other countries. We are focused on getting measures which will benefit Australian households. We're focused on measures like quarterly price monitoring from CHOICE, like the ACCC supermarkets inquiry, like the mandatory Food and Grocery Code of Conduct which only happened as a result of Labor's reforms. This is what will make a difference. This is how we get a fairer deal for families at the checkout and for farmers who are selling products to supermarkets.

JOURNALIST: On a different issue, you're not a fan of factions and factional plays. What do you make of any push to expel Senator Payman?

LEIGH: Well, the basic issue here is that Labor plays as a team. When I ran for politics, the only reason I got elected was because I had the words ‘Australian Labor Party’ underneath my name. That's true of everybody in the caucus. You have two obligations when you're part of a team. One is to make your strongest arguments in the room. The other is to go out on the field and play as a team. That's how a team sport operates. Just ask the Brumbies. Just ask the Raiders. That's the way it works in the Labor Party. And I, as well as my colleagues, would welcome Senator Payman to return to the caucus and to work with us collectively, on the issues that I know matter so much to her.