Up, up, milk prices are up at Coles

The AFR View
September 20, 2018
What the hell is going on at Coles? For years, the supermarket has campaigned on “down down, prices are down”. Now it seems that in the case of milk, prices are going up, up as the grocer seeks to match Woolworths’ 10¢ per litre levy to help dairy farmers hit by dry weather.
The Coalition government is taking out the big stick against energy companies for supposedly ripping off energy consumers and pushing up the punishing cost of living. Yet, out the other side of its mouth, it applauds Woolworths for being the first to slug milk-drinking consumers to compensate dairy farmers for an intrinsic cost of their business. So when is the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission looking to take on these supermarkets for what threatens to be the end of supermarket milk competition? Where is the Australian Consumers Association?
Cheap milk has been a great victory for Australian consumers that has driven down the price of protein. But after the milk levy for dairy farmers, why not a drought levy on bread to help wheat growers? Or on beer to help the drought-afflicted barley belt? Or on meat? This is yet another case of the politically correct madness gripping Australian business, enabled by politicians. In an era where Canberra constantly wields a big stick, the consumer loses and special pleading wins