11 December 2020 The Weekly Times

A COMPETITION watchdog report highlighting the power imbalance between farmers and big business needs to be acted upon by government, a Victorian senator says.

Released yesterday, the Perishable Agricultural Goods Inquiry found fresh food markets including dairy, horticulture, meat and eggs have “characteristics likely to lead to bargaining power imbalances.”

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, which conducted the three-month review, has called for new fair trading laws to provide farmers a more even playing field in dealing with processors, wholesalers and supermarkets.

Victorian Labor senator Raff Ciccone said the Federal Government needed to act on the ACCC report to ensure primary producers, particularly dairy farmers, weren’t continued to be squeezed by corporate players.

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