Page 2902 - Week 07 - Wednesday, 29 June 2011
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MR BARR: If the Leader of the Opposition’s policy alternative is to continue to cosy up to the duopoly in the Australian supermarket industry, if that is what he believes is the policy solution, then let him continue that. But I know and this government knows that that is a position not shared by the vast majority of Canberrans and indeed the vast majority of Australians. More competition is important, and that is why the government supports the enhancement of competitors to Woolworths and Coles, be that Costco, Aldi, Supabarn, IGA or any other entrant into the market.
Opposition members interjecting—
MR BARR: Madam Assistant Speaker, I do note the constant interjections and only one attempt by you during this process—
MADAM ASSISTANT SPEAKER: Do you want to move dissent, Mr Barr?
MR BARR: No, I am not moving dissent. I am just drawing your attention to it. You have not made a ruling. I cannot move dissent if you have not made a ruling.
MADAM ASSISTANT SPEAKER: Would you like to actually make a count of the number of times I have drawn people’s attention—
MR BARR: No.
Mr Seselja: Madam Assistant Speaker, I think there is a reflection on the chair there, and I ask you to ask him to withdraw. That is a reflection on the chair. He is suggesting some sort of bias.
MR BARR: I cannot move dissent if you have not made a ruling, Madam Assistant Speaker.
MADAM ASSISTANT SPEAKER: Mr Barr, remove the reflection on the chair.
MR BARR: I withdraw, Madam Assistant Speaker.
MADAM ASSISTANT SPEAKER: Now would you continue to be orderly, Mr Barr?
MR BARR: Thank you, Madam Assistant Speaker. The point I was making, in relation to the government’s supermarket competition policy, is that it means the release and direct sale of sites to Aldi and Supabarn and the expansion of IGAs in a variety of locations across the city. So it is more than just a policy of facilitating a local player’s development, Supabarn. It is a multi-pronged approach that is also about releasing more sites to the marketplace and having more competition at group centres in particular. Perhaps the busiest supermarket in Canberra is the Dickson Woolworths, a site that has sufficient turnover per square metre to in fact support four supermarkets, and the government is moving to allow competition and to bring in other players in that part of the city. That will be a welcome boost to competition.
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