Page 3551 - Week 08 - Friday, 24 August 2012
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We also said that a recommendation of the supermarket competition policy and the territory plan should be the preservation of viable local centres. We had some discussion about the role of local centres, and we all felt that viable local centres were important. We also felt that, in terms of supermarket policy, the government needed to be a bit more forward looking and look at future transport patterns. People have to get from their residences to wherever their shopping centre is, and it is particularly true for supermarket shopping, which tends to be large and bulky. Transport patterns are very important in determining the location for supermarket developments.
I also made a couple of additional comments specifically about the management of gross floor area. The consistent measurement of GFA is important for the effective and equitable regulation of supermarket size and the associated shopping centres. This was one of the big issues in the case of Giralang shopping centre, and I think one of the things we need to look at is what should be included in the GFA for a supermarket.
I am a resident of Downer, so Dickson is my local shopping centre. Recently Dickson Woolies moved its liquor section out into another building. As far as the supermarket GFA definition is concerned, the GFA has not changed because they are not counted as the same organisation as they are in two different buildings. However, as far as the shoppers are concerned, the GFA has increased. We can see that—it just went from one place to another. I think that is an issue and it is something we need to deal with consistently and equitably.
The other thing that I wanted to make very clear is that shopping centres are a vital part of our community infrastructure. Of course, a viable supermarket is an important part of most shopping centres. Our community infrastructure is not just things like schools, playing centres, churches, hospitals et cetera. Commerce—buying things—is part of human existence and is part of how our community works. It is really important that our competition policy is such that we end up with a reasonable spread of viable shopping centres. We do not want to have the situation where we only have a small number of very large shopping centres because that is where dogged competition between the duopoly has left us.
In summary, this was a quite difficult inquiry because there are no easy answers. This issue is happening throughout Australia as supermarket retailing is changing and as retailing in general is changing. This is an area where the ACT has to do some more work. The late John Martin’s work is very useful, but, unfortunately, most of his recommendations have not really come to fruition. It is time for the ACT to look at the issues again. It is also time for the ACT to lend its voice to national efforts to look at better supermarket competition policy. I commend the report to the Assembly.
MR SESELJA (Molonglo—Leader of the Opposition) (10.12): I note that Mr Hargreaves is waiting to speak on his valedictory. I know there are many people in the gallery as a result, so I will let my additional comments speak for themselves and just pay tribute to our secretary, Andrew Snedden, and Kate Harkins in particular, and thank all members for their contributions.
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