A Four Corners documentary into supermarket price gouging confirms what The Nationals have long been warning about – problems with greedy supermarkets are deep-seated and the Labor Government has been too slow to act on issues they were told about as far back as late 2022.

The ABC story showed how suppliers are exploited and consumers are being taken advantage of in a cost-of-living crisis, with both Coles and Woolworths enjoying profits of more than one billion dollars each last year.

In one case, Orange-based cherry farmer Michael Cunial said he was about to quit the industry, telling Four Corners, “it’s like they’ve got their hand on your throat and (are) just letting you breathe”.

Mr Cunial explained how he lost substantial money on seven deliveries to the major supermarkets, including one delivery of 15 tonnes of cherries where he expected to receive $90,000 but ended up getting just $5800 on the seconds market. 

He claims his product was rejected for no good reason and mostly because Coles and Woolworths have the power to low-ball farmers and dictate the price, knowing hundreds of other farmers are competing to sell to them.

The documentary also says that 34 per cent of vegetable growers want to get out of the sector within the next 12 months, as has previously been warned by The Nationals.

Leader of The Nationals David Littleproud said while the story showed farmers and families were being ripped off at the checkout as far back as 18 months ago, when Woolworths began trying to increase its own profit margins, using economy-wide inflation as a cover, Labor’s delays into calling for an Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) inquiry are also part of the problem.

The Nationals offered the government support to introduce big stick legislation, which would provide divestiture powers, as early as December 2022.

The Nationals also called for the ACCC to be directed to investigate the clear evidence of meat and fresh produce price disparity between the farmgate and the checkout prices since November 2023.

But Labor was too slow to act.

“Labor could have started the ACCC investigation before Christmas but didn’t understand the scale nor severity of their cost-of-living crisis,” Mr Littleproud said.

“Mr Cunial’s case is devastating and, as other farmers quit the industry, through no fault of their own, it will only continue to decrease supply and therefore drive up food prices.

“The Nationals wanted this investigation urgently before Christmas but Labor was simply too slow to take action and in fact said that the Grocery Code of Conduct Review was their solution, which took 100 days to appoint a Reviewer since its announcement. 

“It’s unfortunate it took Labor so long to realise that these powers exist, after previously promising Australians that two other inquiries they announced would yield results.”

Mr Littleproud added Coles’ claim that it had dropped some items by 20 per cent in price continues to be false, with meat prices hardly differing since a price investigation by The Nationals last year.