Queensland Greens unveil plan to cap grocery prices and ‘smash up’ Coles and Woolworths duopoly’
Queensland Greens unveil plan to cap grocery prices and ‘smash up’ Coles and Woolworths duopoly’
Party’s new policy includes limiting cost increases on 30 essential items, with the shopping list to be determined by a ‘fair prices authority’
I was at Coles the other day and noticed their cheapest loaf of bread is now going for $2.60. In 2018 that same loaf with the same packaging in the same size was going for $0.85. I specifically remember that, because we didn't have a lot of money at the time and would often get a couple loaves of that and some cheap butter or whatever the cheapest close enough thing was and had plain toasties for lunch and dinner every day for a few weeks on end. If we had more money, we'd sometimes get a minimum chips from the fish and chip shop and do chip sangas, sometimes with tomato sauce if we had any.
If that loaf of bread went up in line with the official inflation rate (https://www.rba.gov.au/calculator/annualDecimal.html), how far back do you think we'd need to go for an 85 cent loaf of bread in that year to be worth $2.60 now?
The answer is 1986. That loaf of bread is 214% more expensive than it was 6 years ago.
Okay, but that loaf of bread was probably selling at a loss in 2018 to get more people through the doors and also drive bakeries out of business, which is a different problem.
You have a point, but I think that's generally reflective of how all prices have gone. It seems almost everything is about double what it was in 2018. Essentials, at least. Non essentials seem to only be about 50% more than before
I dont really like things like price caps.
I'd prefer stricter protections against monopolies (or duopolies) which would naturally lower pricing of everything, not just the few capped items.
Would any elected government be willing/able to do anything about any current monopoly/duopoly we have?
Would any? Probably not.
Assuming the will was there, I feel a set of laws set to prevent monopoly/duopoly of ANY industry would be easier and more effective than playing around with price caps though. We had the media ownership laws (brought in by Labor) which were at least somewhat effective, until they were abolished... by the Liberals.
Labor then tried to bring some regulation back and was completely annihilated in the court of public opinion by the same media monopolies they were attempting to regulate which kind of proved how desperately needed regulation is. But Australians are pretty stupid so we all just happily voted Liberal because unions bad.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
The price of 30 basic essentials such as bread, milk and nappies would be capped, with increases tied to wages, under a new policy to be announced by the Queensland Greens on Wednesday.
Amy MacMahon, a South Brisbane MP, said several European governments are “taking direct action to lower the cost of food; there’s no reason why we can’t do it here in Queensland”.
Hungary’s prime minister, Victor Orban, was one of many leaders in eastern Europe to impose a cap on some goods last year, though the policy will be dropped next month.
Nations such as France have implemented similar policies and even the UK’s former Conservative government considered “voluntary” controls before backing down amid industry opposition.
The authority would also be responsible for implementing new laws proposed by the party which would allow the state government to require any supermarket firm with more than 20% market share in one of seven regions to sell stores.
The Greens’ candidate for the seat of Cooper, Katinka Winston-Allom, said the Milton IGA, which was closed after it was bought by Coles earlier this year, was evidence that the government wasn’t doing enough to combat anti-competitive “land banking” by the major supermarkets.
The original article contains 487 words, the summary contains 200 words. Saved 59%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!
Here's hoping! I signed up to join the greens this year and urge others to do the same.