Menéndez March RicardoRICARDO MENÉNDEZ MARCH (Green): The supermarket duopoly has been ripping our communities off for far too long—at a time when inflation is rising people are struggling the supermarket industries are making record profits. For too long they've exploited the workers—they've paid them too low wages—but the dial is now finally shifting. Our unions on the ground are securing historic record wage increases for supermarket workers and the Government is introducing legislation that will start making a difference.The Grocery Industry Competition Bill finally puts in place some of the more immediate recommendations of the Commerce Commission to ensure that our communities and food producers have a fairer deal. Some of the things that this bill will do is create a two-part regulatory regime to establish requirements around the commercial supply of groceries; establish an enforceable backstop with additional wholesale obligations that may be imposed in major grocery retailers if normal commercial behaviour isn't delivering outcomes for smaller grocery retailers; create a whole grocery supply code which is something the Greens have been calling for for so many years; extend protections in the Fair Trading Act to cover the relationship between major grocery retailers and their suppliers; enable suppliers to collectively negotiate terms and conditions of supply with major grocery retailers; and then also establish that Grocery Commission within the Commerce Commission so it means we will now have an entity that will be looking very specifically at the behaviour of the supermarket industry. This is very much something that we support.It is worth noting that right now only Foodstuffs and Woolworths will be covered as part of this legislation—yes and with the provision of exploring who else may need to be added. As we're looking at new competitors entering the market I think there is a conversation to be had about: is it just these two players or is it the nature of the supermarket industry in general? Because if we look overseas there does seem to be a trend where big supermarket players do seem to be ripping our communities off at the expense of people and it is not just a matter of these two players; it seems to be a broader systemic issue.Again the Greens do support finally taking action to introduce fair competition laws and more oversight about the behaviour of our supermarket industry. But it is very clear that looking beyond that what the Government needs to also focus on is addressing the inequality crisis by lifting incomes securing workers in the supermarket industry have fair wages—and I hope fair pay agreements play a big role in that—but also to put in place policies that look at food as something of a fundamental human right and not something that we're just leaving supermarkets to deliver. Such a strategy could involve investing adequately in mahinga kai farmers markets urban food markets and publicly owned venues for growers to sell their produce directly to people.We do need to be exploring as well what else we can do but I do commend that this bill will finally start doing some of the more serious recommendations by the Commerce Commission as we look at de-commodifying food and making it a human right. The Greens support this bill to the House.