Feature: The Great Australian Swindle

Australian consumers are being taken advantage of by greedy companies shamelessly profiteering from an exacerbated cost-of-living crisis.

Unscrupulous corporate con artists have leveraged every excuse available to justify increased prices for their products and services, leaving everyday Australians to foot the bill.

The pandemic, war in Ukraine and the Middle East and growing environmental uncertainty are among the reasons given for rising costs across the supply chain.

Undoubtedly, these events have had a profound impact on global economics, but somewhere along the way the situation has been exploited to the further line the pockets of executives and CEOs already earning exorbitant pay packets.

Additionally, we are no longer getting what we pay for. In terms of quantity, we are paying more for less with shrinkification and misleading packaging design. Meanwhile, quality of both products and customer service has fallen. It is evident consumers are getting less value for their dollar on every economic front.

The lived experience of the cost-of-living crisis differs vastly between social strata and tax brackets. For low income and minimum wage earners, it’s the choice between food on the table or keeping a roof over their heads, week to week. Whereas the corporate high rollers face a far less dire trade-off, rarely impacting their quality of life.

However, corporate Australia is not faceless and there are many players in this rogue’s gallery to be named and shamed.

First and foremost, Qantas and former CEO Alan Joyce. Enforcing a strict top-down management culture, Joyce was ultimately responsible for the Qantas ‘ghost flight’ fiasco as well as laying off 20% of its staff during the pandemic. The national airline – the so-called Spirit of Australia – then attempted to stifle competition by blocking Qatar Airways’ bid to extend services in Australia. For his actions, Joyce was dismissed with a golden handshake totalling more than $14 million.

Retail giants such as Woolworths, Coles and Bunnings faced long overdue scrutiny over grocery prices and apparent price gouging in a recent Senate inquiry. Woolworths and Coles have a combined market share of about 65%, making them a duopoly in the supermarket sector. Former CEO Brad Banducci hastily retired the day after a disastrous Four Corners interview back in February. New Woolworths CEO Amanda Bardwell (since 1 September) was publicly questioned by an irate customer in a video that has since gone viral. We are spending more for everyday essentials and household budgets are being stretched to the limit. Yet, it has been reported Banducci received a payout of $24 million; Bardwell receives a yearly salary of $2.15 million.

Hardware giant Bunnings, owned by corporate parent Wesfarmers, were also accused of price gouging as well as refusing to pay nurseries and plant growers enough to meet rising production costs. Bunnings hold a 70% market share, giving them dominant buying power that they very much use to squeeze independent farms while not passing those savings on to the customer, profiting twice and gaining a reputation as a bully in the process. Consumers have also reported a noticeable drop in quality of products stocked by Bunnings. Nevertheless, it’s been a profitable year for Wesfarmers – that also owns Kmart, Officeworks and Priceline – announced a record $2.6 billion return. The announcement was accompanied by comments by Wesfarmers Chairman Michael Chaney who claimed companies like his are essential to the nation’s economic prosperity amid a cost-of-living squeeze.

Harvey Norman deserves special mention in the retail sector for claiming JobKeeper payments during the pandemic while recording record profits. It took immense public and political pressure and criticism to convince executive chairperson and co-founder Gerry Harvey to repay the money. $6 million of the initial $20.5 million payment was repaid to the Australian Government in 2021, with the remaining $14.5 million not repaid but received by the company’s privately owned franchisees.

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Australia’s primary telecommunications carriers Telstra and Optus have been caught overcharging customers as well as exploiting disadvantaged and First Nations people with misleading sales tactics. Telecommunications has always been a highly competitive market in Australia. Telstra has historically owned the copper network, though ownership is transitioning to NBN Co. following the rollout of the highly flawed National Broadband Network. There are three main carriers in Australia – Telstra, Optus and TPG – that mount their technology on the transmission towers. So, while there is choice for consumers, the infrastructure is tightly controlled. Worst of all, the infrastructure is miserably subpar on a global scale. According to Speedtest.net, the global average download speed for fixed broadband internet is 93.93 mbps. At a paltry 66 mbps, Australia’s average internet speed ranks us 82 in the world. Just another way we are paying more for less.

At every turn, corporate Australia is dipping its hands in our pockets while proving, yet again, how far removed its caretakers are from the financial reality of living in modern Australia. Adding insult to injury, we’re being told to weather the cost of living crisis by managing our finances better and cutting back on extravagant spending. Reserve Bank of Australia Governor Michelle Bullock set a new standard for tone deaf social commentary when advising the public that they may have to sell their homes and make painful financial choices prior to being awarded a nearly $400,000 a year salary increase.

It comes as a slap in the face to the more than 3 million Australians living in poverty who struggle to afford basic essentials like food and accommodation. The divide between the haves and have-nots in Australia is growing, driven by corporate greed and an astounding lack of accountability.

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