Dairy leaders call for release of ACCC report into supermarket supply channels
Three months ago, David Littleproud commissioned the nation’s watchdog to examine supermarket behaviour. Now the deadline has passed, dairy leaders want to see the results.
A FEDERAL probe into how supermarkets work with primary producers needs to be made public, dairy leaders say.
In August, Federal Agriculture Minister David Littleproud announced the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission would spend three months investigating bargaining power imbalances across the fresh food sector — between farmers, processors and retailers.
Farmers were able to submit confidential evidence to the inquiry, which examined supply chains not already covered by a mandatory code of conduct.
On November 27, the ACCC submitted its report to the office of Federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg, three days ahead of deadline.
United Dairyfarmers of Victoria president Paul Mumford and Dairy Connect president Graham Forbes both said the report, either in full or in part, must be made public.
“I understand there may be some confidential aspects to the report but I think it would be helpful, not just for dairy, but agriculture in general, if the report was made public in some form,” Mr Mumford said.
“The Minister obviously had some pretty solid reasons for commissioning the report. It’s well known that there remains an imbalance in the relationship between food producers and the big retailers. We welcome any examination of the issue and it’ll be good to look at further when the report is made public.”
Mr Forbes said the fresh food probe, as well as a concurrent ACCC examination of the mandatory dairy code of conduct, needed public ventilation.
“There’s a real need for transparency in the supply chain, that’s why the government has got involved in the first place,” the Dairy Connect president said.
“It’ll be interesting to see both the conclusion of this broad look at fresh food supply chains as well as the more specific (review) of the mandatory dairy code.”
Mr Littleproud was contacted by The Weekly Times for comment but forwarded inquiries to the Federal Treasurer’s office. Mr Frydenberg’s office did not respond in time for deadline.
An ACCC spokesman said the timing of the report release was a matter for the Federal Government.
The ACCC probe examined a range of factors including the relative bargaining power of fresh food suppliers; concentration of suppliers and competition; as well as risks faced by suppliers at each level of the supply chain.
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