By Frank Zumbo

The consumer organisation Choice is to be applauded for calling on the Federal Government to establish a Supermarket Ombudsman.

With Australia consistently facing some of the highest levels of food inflation in the developed world and with concerns still being expressed by suppliers and farmers regarding their treatment by the major supermarket chains, it’s clear that a fresh and comprehensive approach is needed to address supermarket issues.

That’s why it’s time to establish a supermarket ombudsman with primary responsibility for assessing and resolving supermarket related disputes as well as advising Governments, consumers, farmers, suppliers and smaller retailers on broader supermarket issues and concerns.

Currently, these responsibilities and functions are spread to varying degrees across the ACCC and a variety of mandatory and voluntary codes of conduct and dispute resolution schemes dealing with horticulture, primary produce, grocery products, unit pricing and price scanning at supermarket checkouts.

Consolidating these responsibilities into a new supermarket ombudsman as a single point of reference for supermarket related issues is not only efficient and cost effective, but it allows one body to tackle those issues in an ongoing and systematic basis. That supermarket specific expertise will bring a new perspective to those issues and will no doubt lead to the more timely and cost effective resolution of supermarket related disputes.

For the first time Australian consumers, suppliers, farmers and smaller retailers would have a single agency for dealing with supermarket issues and concerns.

With the obvious advantages of a supermarket ombudsman and with strong consumer support for the new agency, the Federal Government should now move quickly to establish the supermarket ombudsman in the interests of a fairer and much more competitive supermarket sector.