Our governments need to work together to tackle the utter dominance of the big two retailers.

It's too late for retail to be saved, as the up coming generations don't want to own a small business, however, if these guys continue to expand, unchecked, many sectors will be trashed by them.

But, like anything, it is the power of the people that could bring them down, but let's face it, it has simply become to convenient for most of us to shop with these retailers.

rechtub,
I'm completely with you on this one.
In the UK there was a parliamentary inquiry a few years back when Tesco and Carifours reached 50% market share between them.
The current situation in Australia is utterly outrageous, and while it may appear that consumers are benefiting in the short term, they sure will pay down the track.
Same with petrol. When the independents are all gone, does anybody really think that secret, minuteless meetings won't occur in hotel rooms between reps of the big two to sort out petrol pricing?
Of course such meetings will happen.
And a great many other prices will be fixed as well. It's incredibly easy to do when there are only two player and incredibly difficult to prove. Especially when the big two's lobbyists are all over Canberra.
This isn't a partisan issue either, as both the Coalition and Labor have failed utterly on this issue.
In their ruthless pursuit of profits, Coles and Woolworths would be completely indifferent if they destroyed agriculture in Australia.
Meanwhile, they are engaged in a land grab by frantically opening up new supermarkets to stake out territory in an endless monopoly game.
Anthony
http://www.observationpoint.com.au

PS
Two more points.
1. I'd happily sign a petition. And I would love to see Getup take this one on in a big way as well.
2. I think this will probably be one of the shortest threads so far, as I don't expect there will be any one who would disagree with rechtub's initial proposition.
Anthony
http://www.observationpoint.com.au

The postion is made worse when the farmers are pushed to the wall,
they can be further screwed by having to compete with food imports.

That then is the ultimate. Except for products that cannot stand long
transport times, we will only have imports if it continues down the current track.

Ultimately food imports must end due to transport costs, but it will
probably be some years before oil depletion and price rises stop
air freight of food. Shipping will become too expensive as the public
will not be able to afford it.

By then all the farmers will have walked off and their sons will
have other careers. Only Chinese owned farms with Chinese work visas
will be producing food for export, guess where !

I call it the "Harvard MBA Disease ". The design of open borders for people ( labour ) and goods. This design which is only adhered to by stupid countries like Australia, means the decimation of farming and manufacturing jobs. It is being promoted by the financial/economic sectors at the expense of the longterm health of the Nation.

We need to bring back tariffs and protection for our farmers , along with an emphasis for a "point of difference" by encouraging the growth of organic farming and conversion of "chemical farms" to organic.

Cheers,

Ralph

The big two are just too smart by half.

The government imposed restrictions on them when advertising specials, so, they simply took another tact like, buy a carton of coke, and receive 4c per Lt off your fuel.

Another tact is thier land grab.

You see, there is only so much commercial land available, so, the big two, especially Wollies, grab as much as they can, which reduced the options for the competition.

Now there is quite an esy solution, tha being one wollies/Coles per 100,000 people.

But governments simply won't, or can't, act.

I remember phoning the local council one day, complaining about the seventh Wollies opening in my shire, which had a population less than 150,000.

They said, nothing could be done as they (council) only dealt with town planning.

We ( governmentS) have let them take over petrol, grog, pokies, what's next.

Of cause they acted on predatory pricing, but too little too late and, with the likes of the milk/ coke promo, they were out smarted.

Our small retailers can no longer compete.

Extended trading hours has also hurt, as the big two could afford to stay open, as they simp,y cut back on night stokers, however, small retailers can't compete, as their AH sales don't usually cover wages and, they get charged extra rent by the greedy land lords.

The government can still act, but must do so right now.

They simply have to outlaw cross business advertising, ie, no petrol discount vouchers etc.

But you can bet that what every they come up with, they will simply be out smarted.