Dr Christina Zorbas is a dietitian at Deakin university and she says the cost rises do not make sense if compared to supermarket's profits.
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00:00 It's quite interesting that some of our really basic items now, like pears and apples and
00:06 frozen fruits and vegetables are increasing in price, whilst the supermarkets are really
00:13 profiting from a lot of these price increases. And, you know, they tend to say that there's
00:18 been an increase in costs across the supply chain. We really don't have a food system
00:23 that is able to resist shocks to the system, which is what we saw during the COVID-19 pandemic.
00:29 And so we still haven't recovered from those shocks because the food system just isn't
00:34 in a place where it's resilient enough to resist changes across the board.
00:39 Yeah, so we, I mean, we understand production costs could be up, but Coles has made a 4.8%
00:45 full year profit, Woolworths yet to report. So can you say that the prices that we're
00:49 paying are fair?
00:51 Definitely not. And we know they haven't been fair for a long time for many lower income
00:57 Australians who have struggled to get by and purchase a healthy diet for a very long time.
01:02 We know that you can cost up to a third to one quarter of a low income family's income
01:07 to just buy really basic, healthy food. So yeah, these further increases are just continuing
01:13 to hit consumers where it already hurts.
01:17 What about competition? I mean, how would you describe the market concentration of Australian
01:20 supermarkets?
01:21 Yeah, it's a really interesting question. And I think, you know, that's one of the unique
01:25 things about Australia that we have some really big supermarket chains and a big food industry
01:31 that can really drive pricing points. And so when it comes to implementing changes,
01:37 it's not really, the onus isn't on the consumers to really be changing the way they're purchasing
01:42 when the industry has a lot to be held accountable for.
01:47 What sort of reform would you like to see in the sector?
01:50 Yeah, so we know that food price and affordability doesn't really have a central home within
01:55 government. There's not someone who, there's not one department that's responsible for
01:59 acting on it. So we need some sort of a national food or national nutrition plan that really
02:06 brings that responsibility together. And really, you know, you can do so many things to change
02:11 food price, including subsidising healthier stuff and that core food to keep those prices
02:16 low and affordable for every Australian, to doing things like raising the job seeker rate,
02:21 which we know during the pandemic made healthy stuff a lot more affordable for Australians
02:26 who needed that extra assistance.
02:29 Yeah. So in the meantime, is there any way for us to shop around these rises when, you
02:34 know, it's across the board and we see this supermarket concentration?
02:37 Yeah, look, you could, one of the heartening things from the findings was that some of
02:42 our vegetable prices did drop compared to last year because we had better weather this
02:46 year. So shopping seasonally, you know, and shopping for those specials is always one
02:54 good way to keep the prices down. But unfortunately, there's not enough healthy food on special
02:58 either. So really, we look to our supermarkets and our government to regulate the food system
03:04 and the food supply better.
03:06 And what sort of changes are we seeing from consumers based on these food price hikes?
03:10 Yeah, so we know within Australia that most people don't actually consume a healthy diet.
03:16 And so that's been consumer behaviour for a fair while now. And people tell us that
03:22 the reason they don't is because healthy stuff is just too expensive and junk food is much
03:27 cheaper and more affordable. So, you know, given that that's the status quo, that is
03:32 going to continue to be the status quo and people are going to continue to opt for less
03:37 healthy choices given that healthy stuff, really basic items like you mentioned earlier,
03:42 are just going up in price.
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