Supermarket prices
Aiv PUGLIELLI (North-Eastern Metropolitan) (10:20): Recently the CEO of Woolworths was threatened with jail time as he refused to answer questions at a senate committee hearing. Greens senator Nick McKim took on the CEOs of Woolies and Coles to question them on price gouging, a topic I think would have made them squirm. The outgoing Woolies CEO just would not answer Nick’s questions about return on equity. Effectively, this measures the profitability of a corporation. He probably did not want to share that it is likely to be more than 2½ times the return on equity made by our big banks, which are the most profitable banking corporations in the world. The supermarkets have gotten away with far too much for far too long. The game is up.