Small business power

It was surely no accident that the decision to scrap the supermarket price watch scheme came shortly after the Minister for Small Business Craig Emerson had consumer affairs added to his responsibilities in the recent ministerial reshuffle. The group with most to lose from publicity being given to supermarket prices are small supermarket operators not the major Woolworths and Coles chains who are being blamed for forcing the breaking of this first major Labor election promise. Mr Emerson, who has been actively out and about listening to small business people, knows that advertising prices in a fair dinkum fashion would be very much to the advantage of the two major chains plus the growing force of Aldi.
The real test for Labor on the grocery pricing front will be whether it is prepared to act against the standover tactics that the majors employ to ensure that suppliers give them a price advantage over the smaller operators.

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