Woolworths CEO Brad Banducci stormed out of an interview with the ABC after Four Corners reporter Angus Grigg asked the grocer’s boss whether there was enough competition in the sector.
“The former head of the ACCC says that we have one of the most concentrated supermarkets in the world, is he lying?” asked Grigg.
“It’s not true,” replied Banducci, “in this community, there will be three Coles stores within two kilometres at least one ALDI store, a series of independents and the ability to, within 24 hours, have a quarter of our store delivered to you by Amazon, it is an incredibly competitive market.”
Grigg pressed on with his line of questioning, citing Rod Sims’ previous comments, saying “I’m sorry, the former head of the competition commission says…
“Retired, by the way” snapped Banducci. “I’m just saying the world has gotten much more competitive.”
View this post on Instagram
Banducci then asked whether it could be taken out of the edit.
“He is retired but I shouldn’t have said that, Angus,” said Banucci.
“Well, we’re on the record,” replied Grigg, “you said, let’s move on.”
Standing up, Banucci said that he was “done” and that he did the interview “with good intent.”
After a chat with the Woolies comms team, Banducci returned to finish the interview.
Speaking to ABC News later, Grigg said that “The fact that he bristled so badly when pushed on whether there was adequate competition in Australia shows that they’re not really used to having much scrutiny.”
The Woolies CEO, as well as Coles’ boss Leah Weckert, are due to appear in front of the Senate price-gouging inquiry next month to discuss competition and pricing in the sector. Scrutiny on the pair is growing, however, and, just yesterday, Banducci said that customers were “not getting engaged” in social issues and were demanding value above all else.
