Coalition takes primary vote lead from Labor; HECS fee relief could be in place by July

Turning to Nationals leader David Littleproud, who is pushing for the competition watchdog to have divestiture powers to strip supermarket giants of some stores.

He believes if the watchdog has the powers, it would lead to greater competition.

Littleproud told Nine’s Today program this morning the powers could be used if the major chains were found to be doing the wrong thing in how they dealt with suppliers and consumers.

“When you have market concentration of over 74 per cent of the big three supermarkets in this country … families are making real decisions at the supermarket every day, they’re putting back fresh produce back up on the shelf because they can’t afford it,” he said.

He said prices being paid to farmers don’t represent what people were getting charged at the checkout.

“Something’s not right, and they’re taking advantage of a very [challenging] market at the farm gate,” Littleproud said.

“And I’ll just say, the prime minister … can’t be out of touch with this. This is an opportunity, and if the supermarkets are doing the right thing, then these penalties will never be used.”