Small business chief savages Coles and Woolies and their trade union ally

IF YOU believe one of Australia’s foremost business leaders, Coles and Woolworths are winning the supermarket war for a terrible reason.

AUSTRALIA’S economic health is being decided by the power of Coles and Woolworths to eliminate competitors, a small business leader today claims in a savaging of the big two supermarkets.

Council of Small Business Australia chief executive Peter Strong refers to the retail giants as “the duopoly” in a speech prepared for the National Press Club in Canberra.

And he links them to the Shop Distributive and Allied Employees Association (SDA), Australia’s largest trade union.

“Simply put, our economic health is decided by these three organisations. If penalty rates stay high or increase with pay rises then many small businesses will close, at least on Sundays and public holidays,” he says in the speech.

“As a result, the duopoly will increase their share of the market place through attrition created by the actions of the SDA.”

Mr Strong says the deregulation of opening hours meant Coles and Woolworths could expand operations and the SDA could boost its membership.

“This means that Coles and Woolworths have increased their market share not by improved services or better, cheaper products but by attrition and an ability to manage increased costs that competitors cannot handle,” he says the speech.

Mr Strong rejected suggestions the supermarkets should also be allowed to act as pharmacies or sell Lotto tickets as this would “destroy strip shopping and see the only place to shop is a large shopping mall full of franchises and large supermarkets”.

“I heard recently that the duopoly also want to have hairdressers in their shops. Please no. Also gymnasiums — please no — enough,” he says.

Council of Small Business of Australia executive director Peter Strong at Parliament House in Canberra.

The supermarkets and the union are not Mr Strong’s only targets:

● ECONOMISTS: “Men and women who believe the world should be run from a textbook and that the real world actually can’t exist because it makes no sense. These academics believe in tooth fairies, flying pigs, that Elvis lives and that if pharmacy goes into the duopoly that everything will be fine.”

● BIG MINING: “But they are only part of the economy, a part that is notoriously slow in paying their suppliers, on average over 50 days and some at 120 days. That isn’t good corporate behaviour.”

● LANDLORDS: “At their whim, they will organise streets to be made one-way, for carparks outside their malls to be moved under or next to their malls, and for bus stops to be moved closer to their entrances. Do they contribute to our society beyond that? No.”

● FAIR WORK COMMISSIONERS: “The FWC is a very large group of commissioners who lord it over all and sundry. They are akin to the old House of Lords. They do not like to take reality into account.”

However, he has nothing but praise for “that once-in-a-lifetime Small Business Minister Bruce Bilson”.

The May Budget was aimed at promoting small business and stimulate the economy, one big measure being the introduction of a $20,000 instant write-off for investment.

Mr Strong says of the minister: “He has focused on competition policy, contract law, regulator behaviour, franchising, financial services and red tape reduction among many other actions.”

And he has “presented a small business Budget the likes of which had never been seen before”.

“There is much hope to be found with Bilson,” Mr Strong says.