The Albanese Labor Government has today passed the Fairer for Families And Farmers Bill to get Australians a better deal at the checkout and back our hardworking farmers who supply to our supermarkets.
The Bill will ensure that supermarkets will face multi‑million‑dollar penalties for harmful breaches of the Food and Grocery Code of Conduct, making sure treating suppliers poorly in breach of the Code is not merely a cost of doing business.
Today, Labor voted for fairness for our families and farmers.
The Liberals and Nationals voted to run a protection racket for the big supermarkets.
The Coalition can’t find it in themselves to back hardworking farmers and help Australians with the cost of living by backing a Bill that tells supermarkets we’re serious about cracking down on dodgy behaviour that takes Australians for a ride.
When the Food and Grocery Code was established by the former Coalition Government in 2015, it was set up as a voluntary code.
When it was reviewed in 2018 – with the Member for Maranoa as Minister for Agriculture – the former Coalition government decided that it should remain a voluntary code, meaning supermarkets could decide whether or not to hold themselves to best practice.
Our new legislation makes the Code mandatory, because every supermarket should be held to high standards as they operate, and held to account when they do the wrong thing.
Every Australian should remember that the Liberals and Nationals are always on the side of the big supermarkets – and Labor will always stand with our families and farmers.
This is one of the 11 Treasury bills that passed the Senate this week that show we can maintain a primary focus on inflation and the cost of living while we keep the reform wheels turning.