Frothing about cheap Australia Day junk won’t bring down grocery bills | Samantha Maiden
The Liberals’ rage over business decisions to stop selling Australia Day crap that no one wants to buy is dumb-as-hell, writes Samantha Maiden.
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Punching down has long been a nasty feature of politics but punching up to relieve cost of living anger by blaming the big supermarkets is so 2024.
Confronted by concerns he hasn’t done enough to tackle cost of living concerns, Anthony Albanese has started punching up in a big way.
Big supermarkets are in his sights and he’s deputised former Labor frontbencher Craig Emerson to take a long hard look at what is apparently wads of cash in Woolies’ and Coles’ trolleys.
Although can anyone really afford to exclusively shop there now we are grappling with interest rates and petrol prices and everything in between?
Surely, it’s increasingly Aldi or bust?
As an aside, if the government really wanted to improve my quality of life they would do something about that $1 you’re expected to carry around for the sole purpose of obtaining an actual supermarket trolley to put your groceries in.
Which routinely drives me absolutely mental. But that’s another story.
It’s a nice sentiment blaming it all on the greedy supermarkets.
But it won’t mean much unless prices actually come down. And given that Craig Emerson won’t even report until July, nothing is going to happen anytime soon.
The only real hope is the vibe. Perhaps it will prompt big retailers to keep prices lower less they incur the wrath of a raging Prime Minister looking for someone to blame.
This week, the latest inflation figures suggested an easing of prices growth led by big price falls in supermarket lamb chops.
But it’s about the vibe you see. Facts are complicated.
Coles adeptly responded to the vibe by announcing price cuts for the next three months on 300 items including meat, seafood, dishwashing tablets and tea bags. Which will quite possibly be more useful than Labor’s “inquiry”.
Meanwhile, the Prime Minister simply slammed “out of sync” supermarkets and warned the government “will act” if costs increase at the checkout.
“We want to make sure that every single reduction in cost to the big supermarkets gets passed on to the customers. They have a responsibility to do so and we will act,” Mr Albanese said.
“We know that at a time when people are doing it tough, the big supermarket chains have been making record profits and we know that there’s something out of sync there.
“We say to all of the supermarkets and to big business, they have a responsibility to look after customers and my government is prepared to take whatever action is necessary.”
Remember Kevin Rudd’s FuelWatch? The scheme that internal advice warned could increase petrol prices in the bush, confuse consumers and dampen competition among retailers? Let’s hope it is not like that.
Meanwhile Peter Dutton got into the supermarket game by uniting politics and the cost of living with a values debate, the holy scripture of Liberal Party politics.
He called for Australians to boycott Woolworths for refusing to stock Australia Day merchandise, declaring it was “against the national interest”.
The Woolworths Group and Kmart no longer stock Australia Day merchandise due to a “gradual decline in demand”.
“It’s up to customers whether they want to go in and buy the product or not. If they don’t want to celebrate Australia Day, that’s a decision for them,” Mr Dutton told 2GB.
“For Woolworths to start taking political positions to oppose Australia Day is against the national interest, the national spirit.
“I think people should boycott Woolworths. I would advise very strongly to take your business elsewhere.”
In other words, Peter Dutton is in a froth to demand retailers stock more crap that nobody wants to buy.
It’s as dumb-as-hell and it can’t possibly send prices down.
If that’s the Liberals’ big idea for cost of living, God help us all.
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