Queensland Premier Steven Miles becomes inquisitor in battle of his own making

Queensland Premier Steven ‘Giggles’ Miles puts on his (mostly) serious face as he confronts supermarket executives at the pricing inquiry in Brisbane on Monday. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Glenn Campbell

Steven Miles had been spoiling for a showdown with the Coles and Woolworths bosses ever since he became Premier. Soon after taking the top job in December, and armed with taxpayer-funded polling showing cost-of-living pressures are front of mind for most Queenslanders, he ordered a state-based inquiry into supermarket pricing.

Only problem was that the Greens had already beaten him to the punch, calling a Senate inquiry that last month put the CEOs of both the supermarket giants on the grill in heated hearings in Canberra.

After that, the retail executives didn’t see the need to front the state-based inquiry, which has been making its way down the coast in barely-noticed hearings in mostly marginal Labor seats.

Instead, the supermarkets sent a mix of executives and local middle managers on Monday as the parliamentary committee arrived for its first hearing in Brisbane.

But Miles wasn’t going to miss his opportunity for a public fight despite the absence of the supermarket heavyweights.

Ever the showman, and drawing from the stunt playbook of Labor populist Peter Beattie, the Premier took the extraordinary step of abandoning the running of the state to join the committee bench and lead the inquisition he put together.

It’s the first time a Queensland Premier has sat on a committee inquiry in recent memory.

The trademark grin of the Premier, which has earned him the moniker of “giggles” among his detractors, was gone, replaced with a stern demeanour for the hearings, streamed online and captured for the television news and, possibly, grabs for subsequent campaign commercials.

And he wasted no time.

“Would you apologise to the Queensland families who have reduced their fresh food consumption because of those price increases?’’ Miles asked of Woolworths chief commercial officer Paul Harker.

Harker said while he empathised with customers struggling with the rising cost-of-living, he didn’t believe Woolworths was to blame.

“Well we acknowledge that a number of customers in the community are doing it tough trying to balance a budget,” he said.

“We try to do our best to provide great value items to the customers in our stores and we empathise with people who are trying.”

He later added: “I’m trying to understand what I’m actually apologising for. I certainly have empathy for and we seek to do more for consumers … but I don’t believe we’ve done anything wrong.”

Miles later vented, saying: “I think this goes to what is most frustrating for policymakers and for consumers, (that) every time we hear from spokespeople from … Coles or Woolworths, they insist that they’ve done nothing wrong.

“I think what Queenslanders would like to hear is a supermarket boss say we could have done better and we will do better, and these are things we will do differently.”

Earlier this year, Labor insiders told The Australian that the inquiry was intended to help in building a platform for the June state budget when the government will unveil a series of cost-of-living relief measures ahead of the October 26 election.

Already, the government has announced a $1000 energy rebate for households to help cover electricity bills from the state-owned generators.