Big promise to stop grocery prices rising

Federal Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has officially promised to split supermarket giants and create divestiture powers for supermarket giants that abuse their market power.

Mr Dutton announced the Coalition’s party position just 30 minutes before Tuesday’s question time session, saying the rules would give more fairness to farmers and consumers.

“People know when they go to the checkout now it’s just getting harder and harder,” he said.

“We also know that the situation in Australia at the moment is that there’s a massive concentration of market share. within Coles and Woolies, (and) there are complaints understandably from farmers and suppliers and many others in the supply chain.

“Equally there are many complaints validly made by consumers as well who are worried about what it means when they go to the checkout with ever increasing prices.”

Nationals Leader David Littleproud said it was a “deterrent” to ensure both farmers and consumers were treated fairly, with a scaling range of penalties if supermarkets did the wrong thing.

He said the Coalition’s policy stance would result in greater fairness to farmers, suppliers and customers.

“This isn’t about fixing prices, and it won’t mean that tomorrow or when we get into government we’re going to break up the supermarkets straightaway,” he said.

“It’s a deterrent to make sure they work within the regulatory guide rails.”

Mr Littleproud said the opposition would introduce a “supermarket commissioner” to work with farmers and fast track complaints to the ACCC.

“Their role will be one that allows them to work with suppliers, farmers who feel aggrieved with the dealings they’ve had with supermarkets to come forward, and either conciliate that with farmers and the supermarkets openly,” he said.

Shadow Treasurer Angus Taylor said divestment powers and the higher-level penalties could only be applied by a court of law.

It must also pass the “public interest test” to ensure it doesn’t result in job losses or cause a significant loss of shareholder value.

“These are important safeguards and they’re the sort of balance that we see in a sensible competition regime,” he said.

The Greens, which have also been backing divestiture, said it was time the government got on board.

“(Labor needs) to read the writing on the wall, understand that people are hurting at the supermarket checkout and Labor needs to shift its position, join the growing chorus led by the Greens,” he said.

Treasurer slams ‘another half-baked’ policy

Treasurer Jim Chalmers used question time to ridicule not only the Coalition’s announcement, but the timing of it.

“Now this is the usual half-baked announcement that’s been rushed out to try and cover up for the last half-baked announcement, which was the nuclear reactors that they don’t have a cost for,” Mr Chalmers said.

“Now, if those opposite really asked about supermarkets, really cared about supermarkets or competition or inflation, they would have asked us about it today.

“The announcement was only made just before question time, and they couldn’t even get around to asking about it, Mr Speaker.

“And that’s because they are hopelessly divided on this question. The shadow Treasurer has been rolled.”

Post-script to return of Assange

The cross-party group of MPs and senators who lobbied for the release of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been formally dissolved following his return to Australia last week.

Ending his 14-year pursuit by US authorities, Mr Assange pleaded guilty to one count of violating US espionage laws in exchange for his freedom and return to Australia.

He returned to Australia on a private jet on Wednesday night, acknowledging supporters who lined up to greet him at the Fairbairn RAAF base, but did not make a statement.

Now the Bring Julian Assange Home Parliamentary Group set up in 2019 is ending.

Co-chairs of the group – independent Andrew Wilkie, Liberal Bridget Archer, Greens David Shoebridge and Labor’s Josh Wilson – have written to the Speaker of the House Milton Dick and President of the Senate Sue Lines to be formally dissolved.

“Are you would be aware, last week Julian Assange was released from custody and returned home to Australia. As a result, the group fulfilled its purpose and is no longer required,” they wrote.

‘No more bull:’ MP’s office hit by activists

Climate protesters have dumped a pile of cow manure outside the Melbourne electorate office of Labor MP Peter Khalil.

About 30 protesters were seen outside Mr Khalil’s office in the inner-northern suburb of Coburg on Wednesday morning, with the group shovelling the manure back into their truck following the demonstration.

While Mr Khalil’s seat of Wills is relatively safe with a 8.2 per cent margin, the Greens are expected to target it at the next federal election.

Victorian Greens leader Samantha Ratnam has been preselected to stand for the seat.

In November last year, Mr Khalil was one of seven Labor MPs who were hit by pro-Palestinian protesters, who placed fake corpses wrapped in cloth outside their offices.

‘No choice’: Farmers vow war over sheep ban

A coalition of furious sheep industry groups say they will ‘hit the pavement’ to campaign against the Albanese government an over plans to ban live sheep exports by May 2028.

The legislation, which included a $107m transition package, passed the Senate late on Monday night, despite calls from Nationals Leader David Littleproud for senators to vote against it.

Keep the Sheep campaigners announced on Tuesday a vocal and highly-visible national campaign to try to overturn the pending laws. The group had met with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Monday afternoon.

“We’ve got 63,000 signatures on our petition, thousands of volunteers that want to hit the pavement this week,” Hedland Export Depot owner Paul Brow told reporters at Parliament House.

“We’ve activated them, as we keep saying to our campaign: ‘Our farming community can no longer afford to be optimists, we need to be activists.’”

Australian Livestock Exporters Council chief executive Mark Harbey-Sutton feared the industry would be devastated by the bill.

“At the end of the day, we didn’t want it to come to this. We sought reason. We wanted evidence to be put forward but now we simply have no choice,” he said.

“This is a government that is attacking our sector and our livelihoods.

“We have no choice but to take it to their constituencies and explain this is a government that does not support Australian agriculture.”

Agriculture Minister Murray Watt disagreed and said it gave the industry certainty around its future. He also confirmed the government would not extend the laws to ban live cattle exports.

“The industry knows, once and for all, the date that it will be phased out, but also importantly, it’s the beginning of hundreds of new jobs in Western Australia through more onshore processing,” he said.

Mr Dutton reiterated the Coalition would reinstate the industry if they won the next election, saying Labor had made the decision for political reasons.

“It was off the back of trying to get preferences from the Animal Justice Party and from the Greens to cancel live sheep exports,” he said.

“We’ve been very clear that we stand with those farmers, not just the farmers the shearers and others in the local communities that will see people leaving the community because there’s not a secondary opportunity in that local economy for them.”

Nationals Leader David Littleproud said his first action if he became agriculture minister would be return live sheep exports.

“There’s be the perverse and horrific death of millions of sheep from other parts of the world that will take our market because we’ve cut and run. Australians don’t cut and run,” he said.

Albo a no-show for NATO meeting

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will not be attending the NATO meeting in Washington next, with Deputy PM and Defence Minister Richard Marles attending instead.

The opposition has criticised the decision. Mr Albanese has attended the past two summits.

“Unless Anthony Albanese has a very, very good reason not to be attending the NATO summit, then this is, frankly, a dereliction of duty by the Prime Minister,” opposition foreign affairs spokesman Simon Birmingham told Sky News.

“The number one responsibility of a government is the national security of the nation.”

Australia is not a member of the security alliance, but has been invited several times.

Mr Albanese was invited again this year alongside counterparts from Japan, South Korea and New Zealand to marking 75 years of the alliance.

Government ministers have defended the decision, saying it made sense for the Defence Minister to attend a defence summit.