No choice.

Why is choice – in a democracy like Australia – being eroded by Capitalism (with a big “C”)? It is a sad fact that the two giants of Australian supermarkets – Woolworths and Coles - are working to reduce the range of products that we customers can buy. They are trying to force us into buying their “home” or in-house brands. Certainly “home” brand prices appear cheaper than those of other suppliers (I will admit to purchasing some “home” branded products because of their price) – but at what cost to us?

The range of alternative products on the shelves of these two supermarkets is certainly less than it was some years ago – some branded products are no longer stocked. And the “home” branded products are often given pride of place.

My concern is that once I/we are conditioned into buying on price only we will be left with nothing but the “home” branded products. Now with most “home” branded products – certainly when it comes to food – the small print states that it is “Produced in - New Zealand or the Netherlands or (occasionally) Australia - from local and imported products”.

I have learned that this phrase “from local and imported products” means that “imported” is a euphemism for “China” and local most probably refers to the cardboard packaging. But what goes into the products we get from China?

Never having been to China I am reliant on what the media chooses to report and what, carefully controlled, snippets of information are allowed out of China by the censors. This is not very much but I know that China is neither a democracy nor a truly Communist country. In fact I would say that a country of 1.2 billion people is virtually ungovernable – certainly not from a central “office”. Furthermore the Chinese legal system is somewhat problematical and it is doubtful that “justice is seen to be done” in a conventional (Westminster) sense.

It is no secret that corruption is endemic and this together with the huge disparity of income between the very rich and desperately poor would suggest that social unrest is bubbling away beneath the smooth surface the Chinese authorities like to portray.

This leads me to question the standard of product that we (Australia) import from China. There is heavily polluted water – a recent audit indicates that 28 000 (Yes! Twenty-eight thousand) rivers and waterways have “disappeared” in China due mainly to poor water management!! Much of the water that remains is of such poor quality that it is alleged to be unsuitable for drinking and fishing is discouraged. You will recall that, recently, about 15000 dead pigs were found floating in a major river!

Is this the water being used to irrigate the vegetables that Australia imports?

Then there are continuing reports of contaminated infant foods and milk powders. Furthermore it is known that indiscriminate use of antibiotics in animal welfare is one reason we are seeing a rise in antibiotic resistant strains of previously controllable diseases. What are the controls the Chinese have in place to prevent any such abuse of antibiotic use just because they are available and cheap? No one knows. The same applies to pesticides – are they using banned carcinogenic products because they are available and cheap? No one knows.

What is the quality of the food that Coles and Woolworths are importing and “forcing” us to purchase their "home" brands because they undercut the prices of other products and thus drive out competition?

They won’t tell and the Chinese Government won’t say!

I will add that if Coles and Woolworths are just trying to please their shareholders with high share prices and increased dividends at the consumers cost then they forget that shareholders are also consumers!! 

There is an old saying that you can't have your cake and eat it too!!!