Big box retailers shelved in Nationals’ divestiture push

While Liberals readily agreed to some of the Nationals’ policy demands, some viewed the party’s divestiture powers push as being anti-business.

Newly minted Nationals deputy leader Kevin Hogan. Picture: Glenn Campbell/NewsWire

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The Nationals’ proposed divestiture policy to break up companies engaging in anti-competitive behaviour will be limited to grocery and hardware chains, with the party shelving ambitions to extend the proposal to big box retailers.

While some Nationals had proposed the policy should be extended to large format retailers such as Costco and Ikea, Nationals deputy leader Kevin Hogan on Sunday confirmed the proposed powers would be limited following objections from some Liberals.

“It is exactly the same as we took to the election, which was the big supermarkets and hardware stores,” Mr Hogan told the ABC.

As the Liberal and Nationals parties move closer to finalising a new Coalition agreement expected later this week, proposed divestiture powers were one of four non-negotiable policies David Littleproud has insisted Sussan Ley must recommit to as part of any deal.

The Nationals’ divestiture proposal was one of four non-negotiable policies raised by David Littleproud in Coalition talks. Picture: Martin Ollman/NewsWire

Liberals readily agreed to Nationals demands on regional telecommunications guarantees, another off-budget fund for regional Australia and lifting the moratorium on nuclear power, but there was consternation among some Liberal MPs that the divestiture policy was anti-business.

On Sunday, Liberal senator Andrew Bragg maintained that while there was a “strong case” for divestiture as a last-resort option in the grocery and hardware sectors, the policy to forcibly break up firms had to be weighed against the risk of deterring potential investment.

“You wouldn’t want to do anything that was going to damage private investment, because it’s on strike under this government,” he told Sky News. “We have very anaemic growth, we need to see the private sector invest more, and so we wouldn’t want to have any policies which damage investment, particularly any policies which increase prices for consumers.”

Liberal MPs have privately expressed concerns with a perception that the Coalition held a growing hostility towards big business. During the last term of parliament, opposition leader Peter Dutton took aim at corporate Australia’s support for the voice to parliament, and support for other social and environmental causes.

In response to Mr Hogan’s remarks, business groups privately welcomed a retreat from proposals to break up large-format retailers but remained wary that aspects of the divestiture policy were still under consideration.

“It will have a chilling effect on investment,” one industry source said.

Mr Dutton had previously threatened to extend planned divestiture powers to the insurance sector in the event that firms failed to reduce their premiums, but that intervention has similarly been canned.