LEON DELANEY:
Today the federal government has announced the appointment of 3 consumer and business advocacy groups to be named as designated complainants. Joining me now to explain what that means, Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities, Treasury, Employment, and our local federal member in the seat of Fenner, Dr Andrew Leigh. Good afternoon.
ANDREW LEIGH:
Good afternoon, Leon, great to be with you again.
DELANEY:
We have spoken about this concept before, but let’s start from the beginning. What exactly is a designated complainant?
LEIGH:
It’s a peak body, Leon, who sees misconduct against consumers or against competition, and now will have a fast‑track way of reporting that to the competition watchdog. We’ve chosen 3 well known peak groups, CHOICE, the Consumer Action Law Centre and COSBOA – the Council of Small Business. And we’ve said that once a year they can bring a fast‑track complaint to he competition watchdog, who will have to respond within 90 days. So, it’s just another way in which we’re getting more competition into the Australian economy.
DELANEY:
Did you say once a year?
LEIGH:
Once a year, yes. They look for systematic misconduct. And the biggest thing that they want to bring forward, they’re able to bring forward is a so‑called designated complaint to the competition watchdog. Of course, they can make regular complaints like anyone else can, but this fast‑track process is available only to these 3 specific groups.
DELANEY:
Okay, I was going to say then, if it’s only once a year, what happens if in January, say the Australian Consumers Association, for example, the body that is CHOICE, if they decide, oh, look, this is something really shocking going on, and we need to report this to the ACCC immediately. And then in February, something else comes up. What do they do?
LEIGH:
They can report both things, but they choose which gets a fast‑track approach. So, they get one fast‑track go a year. And that’s partly about the capacity of the competition watchdog, Leon. So, the fast‑track approach requires the ACCC to put additional resources in, and it’ll do that for one complaint coming forward from each of these peak bodies each year. It’s a system that’s worked well in the UK, and so we’re giving it a go here as well.
DELANEY:
It’s a bit like your captain’s challenge in the rugby league, isn’t it? If you’ve blown it now, you can’t use it for the rest of the year. I mean, that’s a bit frustrating, isn’t it?
LEIGH:
It’s a great comparison, Leon, and again, just take you back to the fact that we’ve got to balance resources here. Obviously, we’ve brought down 2 Budget surpluses and so we’re very careful with resources. We’re often looking for ways to making sure we’re getting the very best value for taxpayer money. This is the first time this system’s existed. Maybe in the future there will be multiple complaints allowed per year. Right now we’re getting these organisations to focus on their very top area of concern.
DELANEY:
Ok, so the 3 organisations you’ve already named CHOICE – also known as the Australian Consumers Association, the Consumer Action Law Centre and the Council of Small Business Organisations of Australia. So, why those 3 particular organisations and not, for example, the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry?
LEIGH:
Great question. We decided that they were the groups which were most likely to see systematic patterns of misconduct, that is, instances in which the same problem was occurring again and again. So, that could be drip pricing where suddenly you go to buy something and discover that there’s additional costs have been added on. It could be instances in which firms are throwing their weight around in some aspect of retail. It might be instances in which there’s clauses creeping into contracts between big business and small business that the competition watchdog needs to know about. All of those instances could well be brought forward to the competition watchdog for fast‑track action.
DELANEY:
Oh, I’ve just thought about the NSW Farmers Federation. They’ve constantly got things to complain about, haven’t they? Well, I mean, why can’t they get a fast‑track ticket as well?
LEIGH:
Well, again, Leon, when you bring down Budget surpluses, you’ve got to make tough decisions. The former government might well have been happy to throw money around willy-nilly and to run the carpark rort, the sports rorts and spend money like drunken sailors. We run a tight ship. We’re concerned about every dollar we’re spending and that’s how we’re getting those surpluses, which, of course, help us put downward pressure on inflation.
DELANEY:
Ok, so if that’s the case, how did we still get our tax cuts? That’s billions of dollars being flushed back into the economy with all sorts of experts, including Stephen Hamilton, your good mate, telling us this is, yes, it’s inflationary.
LEIGH:
Well, the tax cuts were already legislated. They’ll be factored into inflation expectations. Our concern when we re-jigged them at the start of this year was to make sure that that didn’t add to inflation. Earlier this year we asked Treasury to go away and do a piece of work and they said, well, yes, lower income people are more likely to spend than higher income people, but the reason it won’t add to inflation is you’ll get a labour supply effect. You’ll have more people joining the workforce and helping firms with those supply chain shortages which have been one of the factors driving up inflation. So, we have good advice from the experts that the change to the tax cuts has no additional impact on inflation. I’ve got a lot of respect for Steve Hamilton, but on this one he’s wrong. The analysis has been very carefully done by the boffins of Treasury.
DELANEY:
He’s not afraid to make bold assertions, though, is he?
LEIGH:
Steve’s not afraid of very much so I’ll give him that. And he’s right more often than he’s wrong.
DELANEY:
But he has been wrong before, but that’s another story for another day. On the question of competition and the behaviour of big companies like supermarkets for example, the Opposition Leader today made an announcement that should the opposition be elected next year or this year, depending on when you choose to have an election, they will introduce controls over the supermarkets in particular, including the appointment of a supermarket commissioner and the creation of powers to force the divestment of assets, something that the Greens have wanted and pushed for very firmly. I’m a little amused to see Peter Dutton once again picking up a Greens policy. But why do you insist that the power to divest or force divestment is not necessary?
LEIGH:
‘Dutton and the Greens’ could be a new rock band, couldn’t it? So, often, it’s amazing the things they’ll collaborate on, stopping us building houses and the like. And again, they seem to be joining forces on this policy here. Divestiture wasn’t recommended by any of the major competition reviews, not by the Hilmer review, not by the Dawson review, not by the Harper review, not by the Emerson review. And indeed, Craig Emerson said that it could potentially cause less competition, because if you ask the second biggest supermarket to divest, well, who’d buy its outlets? Could well be the first biggest, and you’d end up with more market concentration. We’re focused instead on things that work. We’re focused on a Food and Grocery Code that’s mandatory – glad to see the Coalition finally backing that today. We’re focused on CHOICE quarterly price monitoring. We’re focused on an ACCC inquiry, which will look at issues such as loyalty cards. We’re focused on straightforward, practical measures. It’ll ensure better prices for families and better prices for farmers.
DELANEY:
What about the idea of a supermarket commissioner? Is there some merit to that?
LEIGH:
We’ve already got the ACCC’s commissioners looking at supermarkets. They are directing their attention directly at that right now. So, frankly, the Coalition on this are all hat and no cattle. They thought a voluntary code of conduct was good enough for the Food and Grocery Code. We don’t. We want a mandatory code and that’s what’s going to happen. So, they’re happy to now back in our policies. I’m happy to have their backing. But let’s be very clear. In 9 years in office, the Food and Grocery Code stayed voluntary. It took the election of a Labor government to make it a mandatory code.
DELANEY:
All hat and no cattle. Be honest now. Did you borrow that one from Bob Katter?
LEIGH:
I didn’t. But he’s a man with a big hat, isn’t he?
DELANEY:
He is, isn’t he?
LEIGH:
And a very long scarf today. He had a sort of Tom Baker scarf in Question Time. You know, when you’ve been in politics since 1974, I guess you develop some affectations. I was 2 years old when Bob Katter first entered politics, and he’s been out of it for less than a year since then.
DELANEY:
Wearing a long scarf in Canberra is not a big deal, though. I mean, lots of people do that. It’s very cold.
LEIGH:
That’s true. Not so many of them in a warm building in Question Time. But, you know, I won’t go judging other people’s dress codes. That could come back on me.
DELANEY:
Indeed they could. Andrew, thanks very much for your time today.
LEIGH:
Real pleasure, Leon. Thank you.