There is still, in spite of all the talk from Canberra, no discernible understanding of the extent to which what I call the Woolworths factor is contributing to inflation and damaging consumers.
In relation to Malcolm, whose livelihood's been destroyed at Mittagong by Woolworths, I'm grateful for some high profile legal people who've now come to his aid.
And Woolworths will find themselves answering in another place.
It will not be pretty.
But we've had the Woolworths figures this week, half yearly profits heading towards a billion dollars.
Adam Smith, in the Wealth of Nations, the bible of capitalism, wrote: "The rate of profit is always highest in countries which are going fastest to ruin".
And Woolworths will keep telling us that the drought is the villain in relation to increasing prices, or that Woolworths are trying to hold back the tide of rising food costs.
You come to the conclusion that whoever is writing this stuff is a pathological liar engaged in one of the longest running and most effective disinformation campaigns in Australia's history.
Since 2005 Woolworths have increased their gross margin from 24.51 per cent to 25.56 per cent. That is, increasing the mark-up on what they sell.
And that represents an extra $400 million annually they've ripped out of consumers' pockets. This is a wealth transfer from the pockets of Australian families into the pockets of Woolworths. And they blame the drought, when the farmer has got not one cent more. And then they claim they're lowering prices or swallowing price increases.
This is rank deceptive conduct, in breach of section 52 of the Trade Practices Act. But no one in Government can yet pull their heads out of the sand.
Competition is meant to harm competitors.
But Woolworths enjoyed such a huge surge in margins that it shows that competition has collapsed. Woolworths and Coles have got 80 per cent of the market.
It's not competition.
And if they've got 80 per cent of the market, what supplier can get justice from Woolworths.
Indeed, think about this.
There's most probably three billion dollars worth of goods on supermarket shelves. Not one cent has been paid for.
They exploit their market power by screwing the supplier and withholding payment. And what supplier can afford to say no to any demand that Woolworths makes?
Last year Woolworths had an incredible $750 million in negative stock, that's cash for goods they'd sold and instead of paying the suppliers it's sitting there earning bank interest.
And in the last six months that negative stock has gone to over 1.3 billion.
So in the last six months Woolworths have delayed paying their suppliers by a further $574 million.
Sitting on a cash pile of $1.3 billion that they've received from customers, withholding from paying their suppliers.
And if they pick up about 7 per cent annually in interest they've got another $100 million because they can use their market power to demand extended payment terms.
And as Woolworths increase gross profits, up go retail prices, up goes inflation, the Reserve Bank increases interest rates.
But when the interest rates increase, Woolworths get an even higher return on the 1.3 billion cash they're withholding from suppliers.
When is this absolute farce going to end?
A new Government, new ideas, or just more inquiries and more of the same.
We'll keep at it.
I wish the Government would start getting into it.
