TRANSCRIPT
Paul de Jong's business is plants.
On a farm just outside Canberra, he grows 100,000 seedlings at a time, with hundreds of different varieties.
Mr De Jong says it's a busy lifestyle.
"We can start at three o'clock in the morning. So you know I've usually loaded my truck. I've got two trucks full of trolleys with plants on it and I head off down to the market. Most days I spent a lot of time in the production area. No day is exactly the same. You know, there's a lot of planting. So I might be organising people to plant things working out where they go in production. With so many lines, we have to sort of manage the production carefully. It's a very high maintenance profession. You really have to spend a lot of time in production to make sure it all looks good. "
There's plenty of people like Paul across the country.
They're known as nursery growers, or greenlife growers, who grow plants to be sold on to gardeners.
Mr De Jong says his business, Canberra Colour, is considered a small one, and unlike most growers, he chooses to sell his stock only locally.
"I did supply Woolworths once, I sent stuff to Sydney but because I'm a small grower, it's just more convenient to supply smaller nurseries because I have the right sort of quantities for them and I prefer to have that interaction with the smaller retailers."
About 25,000 people are employed by the greenlife sector, and the majority of plants grown end up in one place: Bunnings.
Bunnings controls 70 per cent of the greenlife market across Australia, and there are concerns they're using that power to exploit suppliers.
Whilst the pricing policies of Australia's big grocery stores are under the microscope, CEO of Greenlife Australia Jo Cave says it's time for Bunnings to be scrutinised too.
"If the government's minded (interested) to look at the behaviour of the big supermarkets, who we know dominate the grocery market in a duopoly, we say they should certainly look at the big box retailers of plants, especially Bunnings, which has a monopoly. Plants are defined in the code of conduct, but the biggest retailer of those products is not a signatory, which means Bunnings is completely unregulated, and it also means our growers have no protections whatsoever."
Plant sales are an integral part of Bunnings businesses.
By volume of units sold in their stores, plants are second only to tins of paint.
Greenlife Industry Australia, the main industry body representing commercial growers of plants, is pushing for Bunnings to be included in the Food and Grocery Code of Conduct.
The code, which regulates how supermarkets and their suppliers do business, is currently being reviewed.
Whilst it includes plants and flowers in its definition of groceries, the voluntary code is only signed by the major supermarkets.
Ms Cave says many issues farmers have raised in relation to the grocery sector also apply to greenlife growers.
"Growers are scared of making a complaint. There's no safe place for a grower of plants to challenge or complain about something a big box retailer might have done. We have many examples reported to us of growers who've lost orders and had to close their business because they might have spoken up or asked for a price increase and been frozen out by the big box retailers."
Ms Cave says many growers don't receive contracts from retailers.
"No commitments from the big box stores to buying the plants that they've ordered which makes it very difficult for growers who might plant 10,000 plants, only in the hope that they'll sell them rather than the expectation. There's often no contractual commitments whatsoever on the part of the retailers to buy those plants."
Former ACCC chair Professor Allan Fels says suppliers have good grounds for their concerns.
"Suppliers always have reason to be concerned when they're at the mercy of big players like Bunnings, and there needs to be a watch on their weak bargaining position not being exploited by Bunnings."
Ms Cave says growers aren't able to use their own branding when selling to larger retailers.
"It is it is a real problem for growers that they have lost control of their brand because a lot of the big box retailers, Bunnings included, are insisting on growers repackaging their products into generic home-brand packaging."
Ms Cave says denying growers the opportunity to show their credentials means consumers miss out on information about the products they're buying.
"They might be a sustainable grower, they might have invested in best-practice accreditations, (but) they have no ability to promote those elements if everything is repackaged. We feel a consumer would like access to the information that growers can provide about their brand and their growing methods. There's no doubt about that whatsoever."
Mr De Jong says the market has changed a lot in the last 30 years, and that's limiting options for consumers.
"A lot of small retailers have disappeared. And a lot of the product is just going to big retailers now they sort of own most of the market. Because the industry has shifted to bigger productions. There's not as many growers now, it tends to limit the diversity in production so often you'll get the same things everywhere."
Ms Cave says Australians expect more from the retail giant.
"Bunnings is rated as the nation's most trusted brand, good for Bunnings. But I do wonder what consumers would say if they knew how Bunnings treated its suppliers. We know that Australians dislike corporate greed in big companies. We feel corporate greed is in the mix here. Bunnings says it stands for integrity and respect; what we would like to see is those values demonstrated, and if I was in charge of Bunnings I would offer to sign the code of conduct to demonstrate that I'm living by those values and want to do the right thing by my suppliers."
Bunnings was not available for an interview, but in a statement Bunnings Managing Director, Mike Schneider said:
"We have longstanding relationships with thousands of suppliers, and work hard to build longstanding win-win partnerships. We have robust processes in place as part of our trading agreements to ensure those relationships are fair and transparent, and have a range of avenues available for suppliers to raise their concerns, including an anonymous reporting service."
When asked if Bunnings would consider becoming a signatory to the Food and Grocery Code of Conduct, Mr Schneider said:
"Given the very broad range of products and services Bunnings offers to both consumer and professional customers, as well as the diverse and highly competitive market in which we operate, we don’t feel that the Food and Grocery Code of Conduct, which was introduced to address concerns in the supermarket industry, is specifically relevant to our business as currently drafted."
