Senator Joyce said today that the Labor party's paltry attempt to deal with the monopolisation of the chemical and fertiliser industry reflected their clear lack of commitment to deal with the inflationary pressures being fuelled by the overcentralisation of the fertiliser market.

“Fertiliser from Incitec Pivot has gone up in the last month by $140 a tonne, yet Mr Bowen did not even give the ACCC Part 7A powers to properly investigate the problem, let alone prescribe changes such as a divestiture power to break up dominant industry players.

“Instead, Mr Bowen asked the ACCC to informally review the fertiliser market. Such an informal inquiry is simply a waste of time as the ACCC does not have the power to take evidence under oath or to subpoena any incriminating documents from the dominant companies.

“Without these formal powers, the ACCC is powerless to get to the full picture on how farmers are increasingly victims of an overly concentrated fertiliser market.

“By failing to give the ACCC the necessary powers, the Labor Party has yet again let down farmers. This lack of support by the Labor party will make its way back to your shopping trolley through higher prices as fertiliser is a crucial input in all horticultural products. This will place further strain on already tight family budgets.

“The Labor party, far from wanting to deal with the inflationary drivers in the marketplace, have suggested the repeal of the Birdsville Amendment to make them worse and hand more powers to the oligopolies that now have a stranglehold on key markets to the detriment of farmers, small businesses and consumers.

“Quite simply, the Labor Party is taking us all for a ride by failing to act on escalating chemical and fertiliser prices and by avoiding any moves to properly deal with them for fear of getting on the wrong side of the vested interests that control the market.

“For the Australian consumer this Labor intransigence is astounding. In summary, it is like this: if you are eating vegetables or bread or meat or dairy products you rely on a fertiliser and chemical component which is controlled by a virtual monopoly that is exploiting the market, reducing the margin for the farmer and increasing the costs for the consumer. In the US they have tough anti-trust laws to deal with this. In England they have tough competition laws to deal with this. Even in China they have the power to deal with this. But Mr Bowen and Mr Rudd and the Labor party has no intention to deliver the strongest possible Trade Practices Act deal with this.

“This is a real test for Labor if they are serious about competition and the need to reduce inflation. Unless they deliver a better deal to all involved in the market, from the farmer to the kitchen table, we will continue to see inflation spiralling out of control.



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