People living in regional Australia say it's hard to budget for the weekly shop when many small community stores don't display the prices of their goods. It's mandatory for larger supermarkets to show the cost-per-unit for grocery items but stores smaller than one-thousand square metres are exempt. Consumer advocates suggest that inflated prices of products at community stores could be mitigated with government assistance.
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00:00There's very little choice in people being able to do a shop on a budget due to the high
00:09prices in some of these community stores.
00:13Prices are higher in the regions, aren't they, because of the extra cost of freight and the
00:17limited retail market, but do you think having more food outlets will put pressure on retailers
00:23to reduce their prices?
00:26There's certainly an appetite for competition, I think, particularly in remote community
00:30stores, but in terms of the prices that most of our financial counsellors and capability
00:38workers are seeing in remote communities, it's really, really high, and for people to
00:44be able to do a shop on a budget and be able to feed their families really healthy food,
00:50it can be really, really challenging, and certainly there's opportunities here for government
00:55to be able to come to the assistance of some of these community stores to be able to help
00:59them, because the cost of freight, as you say, and also the limited competition does
01:07keep products really, really high, and so how do we support people in remote communities
01:15to be able to access good and nutritious food on a budget?
01:18What's the best way to do that?
01:21I think government needs to come to the party in terms of assisting and supporting these
01:26stores, but there needs to be some changes in legislation, and as advocates, we are really,
01:31really happy that the National Indigenous Australians Agency is doing this strategy
01:38for remote community stores.
01:43We feel like there's a few other recommendations that we'd like to put forward, and one of
01:47them is that regardless of the size of the store, I think that there needs to be pricing
01:53on all goods within the store, and certainly using the unit pricing code in terms of these
02:01stores as well, too.
02:03And Linda, if prices aren't displayed in some shops, then how easy is it for people to get
02:07to the checkout and just realise that they're spending too much, they haven't got enough?
02:12Yeah, well, I mean, you can imagine the shock, firstly, of people going, purchasing an item
02:19that they really need and going to the checkout and finding that it's not part of their
02:22budget, it's like they've gone over budget, or they're actually ashamed, you know, that
02:27shame factor, you know, so they don't want to put the item back, and so they purchase
02:31it, and so they actually, you know, don't have enough money then for other goods that
02:36they need to have within their community and within their family.
02:39So it is really, really challenging, and I think it's a real concern.
02:45If this was happening in an urban, you know, centre, I think there'd be a huge outcry.
02:50There'd be, you know, politicians be coming to talk about this, it'll be on people's radar.
02:56And unfortunately, because it's in remote communities, it just doesn't seem to get the
03:01airplay that it needs to.
03:03And I appreciate all the media outlets that are playing this at the moment, and ensuring
03:08that this issue is looked at.
03:10So just finally, Linda, what is your advice as a financial counsellor to people on how
03:15to shop smarter?
03:17Well, I'm not a financial counsellor, I used to be a financial counsellor, but as a previous
03:22financial counsellor, I would certainly, sometimes it's not really up to the person to
03:27budget for the food, particularly in remote stores where the prices of food is sometimes
03:32double or triple, you know, the size, the prices in urban centres.
03:37But I would definitely say, you know, those tips, things like, you know, making sure you
03:41have a list when you go shopping, to ensure that you're not buying when you're hungry,
03:46all of those type of things.
03:48And certainly making use of those emergency relief services within your community that
03:54potentially could give you some help in that.