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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 8 Hansard (27 June) . . Page.. 2407 ..

MS HORODNY: Thank you, Mr Speaker. It is because we care about the local economy, and it is because we want local shops and local businesses, just as we want local health centres, local libraries, and a whole range of other services which benefit our community. Small firms employ 55 per cent of the private sector in Australia. Large capital-intensive firms concentrate on chasing market share and churning existing wealth. In Australia they are crushing smaller, labour-intensive firms. According to 1992 ABS figures, in the ACT, supermarket grocery stores generated 68 per cent of the turnover of retail trade, but employed only 49 per cent of people. Obviously, this share of the market has grown since then. This contrasts with specialised food retailers who picked up only 32 per cent of retail trade, but employed 51 per cent of people employed in food retailing. Mr Speaker, if we are going to solve unemployment problems we have to support labour-intensive companies. As consumers we must remember this: It might be cheaper to always shop in a large store because they can keep their costs down by achieving economies of scale and have considerably cheaper rents - - -

Mr Osborne: It is all right to go and spend more money.

Mr Moore: It is all right when you are single and do not have kids.

MR SPEAKER: Order!

MS HORODNY: And, particularly, they have considerably cheaper rents when they get a deal of no rent.

Mr Moore: Where? Who? Who? Come on?

Mr Osborne: Oh! Unbelievable.

MS HORODNY: Some of these supermarkets, Mr Osborne, pay no rent in the town centres. No, you do not want to know about that, do you?

Mr Osborne: They have the hide to offer cheaper groceries, have they? Un-bloody-believable.

MS HORODNY: They employ a smaller ratio of staff and can run very small profit margins, and even no profit at all on some items. That is the benefit of being a corporate giant, Mr Osborne.

MR SPEAKER: Order! Ms Horodny, one moment please.

Mr Humphries: Mr Speaker, the level of interjection is really, I think, very unfair. Ms Horodny did listen to everyone else in silence. She should be heard in a relative degree of silence as well.

Mr Moore: That is too bad.

Mr Osborne: She is talking rubbish.

Mr Moore: She has got away with this sort of rubbish for too long.

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