During the middle
of the 18th Century and well into the beginning
of the 19th Century India produced far more textiles — and usually
much cheaper and
of better quality —
than did England, but a number
of measures aimed at undermining Indian textile producers and protecting British textile producers (tariffs that almost always exceeded 50 %, for example, and by 1813 were as high as 85 %) meant that at some point in the first half
of the 19th Century the British textile industry had become the most efficient in the world and was able largely to eliminate the Indian textile industry from global
competition.
That this House: (1) notes with concern the impact on the Dairy Industry
of the Coles milk pricing strategy and that: (a) dairy farmers around the country are today seriously questioning their future having suffered through one
of the worst decades in memory including droughts, floods, price cuts and rising cost
of inputs such as energy and feed; (b) unsustainable retail milk prices will, over time, compel processors to renegotiate contracts with dairy farmers and the prospect that these contracts will be below the cost
of production may force many to leave the industry; (c) the fact that supermarkets are now selling milk
cheaper than many varieties
of bottled water will be the straw that finally breaks the camel's back for many dairy farmers; and (d) the risk
of other potential impacts includes: (i) decreased
competition as name brands are forced from the shelves; and (ii) the possible loss
of fresh milk supplies to some parts
of the country as local fresh milk industries become unviable; and (2) calls on the Government to: (a) ask the ACCC to immediately examine the big supermarkets and milk wholesalers after recent price cuts to ensure they do not have too
much market power and are not anti-competitive in their behaviour; and (b) support the new Senate inquiry into the ongoing milk price war between the country's major supermarket chains».