Race to the bottom

THERE is a reason why only the big businesses offer so called ‘ price match’ guarantees. They have the power and the funds to take the losses. The aim isn’t just to get the sale, it’s to take business away from the small competitors.

Look at the pressure that small bakeries, the corner butcher, the local newsagent and dairy farmers are under. Shops are disappearing, undercut by cheaper bigger chains.

This is why Tim Nicholls’ so- called local “price match guarantee” is so dangerous for small businesses in Townsville.

The LNP is simply creating a race to the bottom.

Tim Nicholls is guaranteeing that big businesses from down south or overseas can quote as low as they like for work in Townsville knowing their smaller competitors will have to unreasonably slash their own price to match it.

All Tim Nicholls is offering small business is a second chance draw you can only win if you cut your margins to the bone. It’s a practice that sadly operated for far too long until our government introduced our Buy Queensland policy on September 1 this year. Labor’s Buy Queensland gives local firms a 30 per cent weighting when tenders are assessed.

If your company is within 125km of where the work is done Labor will give you the chance to win the work at the price you set, not at the price set by a big business from down south or overseas.

It’s a policy that makes sense. If we are spending taxpayer dollars in Townsville the benefits of that spending should stay in the Townsville region.

By repealing Buy Queensland and replacing it with so called price matching, Tim Nicholls will once again be giving out- of- town firms with deep pockets the power to call the shots.

Why wouldn’t a cashed- up company quote as low as possible to starve their competitors of work? The LNP’s policy is a race to the bottom. It’s bad for jobs and bad for Queensland. The LNP continues to sell out Queensland. The Liberals won’t stand up for small business and the Nationals won’t stand up for the regions. Only the local Labor team backs local Townsville jobs. CORALEE O’ROURKE, Member for Mundingburra SCOTT STEWART, Member for Townsville AARON HARPER, Member for Thuringowa