Some fruit and vegetable growers have not been given price rises in 15 years, causing young people to abandon the industry and risking future food shortages.
With cost-of-living pressures rising, consumers have been calling for the grip of the two major players to be loosened, but the government has rejected this.
‘When you have too much market dominance and power, you can treat people in a way that actually destroys and tears away our food security,’ said the Nationals.
If ‘price gouging’ were driving inflation, then you would expect the increase in food and groceries to be greater than the rate of inflation—but it’s not.