08-September-2008
Goldstein Media Releases, Community
The Rudd Government’s $13 million GroceryChoice website is a political stunt and should be shut down according to Andrew Robb MP, Federal Member for Goldstein.
The GroceryChoice website is failing Bayside shoppers because:
• they are not being told where to go to get the best prices;
• they are not being told if Safeway or Coles has the same price in all of their stores, which of course they don’t;
• individual items are not identified, just a basket of goods;
• they are being told that the cheaper basket of goods may in fact be in a supermarket that is some distance away and any saving they make is lost in the cost of petrol;
• as Independent supermarkets are lumped together into one averaged out price, consumers are not made aware of the varying price differentials between all the Independent supermarkets; and
• the prices placed on the website can be outdated by up to a month at times, thus proving useless to the consumer.
Goldstein is located in the defined area of ‘Inner Melbourne South East’ on the GroceryChoice website. This area covers all or part of six federal electorates, six local council areas and over twenty five suburbs - from Beaumaris in the south to Burwood in the north east and South Yarra in the north west.
“If you’re a keen shopper in Hampton, you don’t know whether the prices posted for Coles represent any one of the Coles in and around Hampton or whether they are in Burwood some 18 kilometres away. It defies common sense,” Mr Robb said.
The Council of Small Business of Australia (COSBOA) has also made the point that the site is misleading consumers because of there being no reference to any specific stores. The COSBOA has called for the website to be closed until it can provide ‘realistic and useful information’.
“Costing $13 million, GroceryChoice is an utter waste of taxpayers’ money when such funds could be better spent on important matters such as improving services to seniors.
It is clear that GroceryChoice is nothing more than a quick political fix by Mr Rudd. Australians have been conned because GroceryChoice does not deliver on Mr Rudd’s promise to deliver lower grocery prices,” Mr Robb said.
Media contact: (03) 9557 4644