WOW...radical thought...stick to RETAILING, page-316

As a shareholder and consumer of Woolworths, I fail to grasp the reason behind all this uproar. Where I the CEO of Woolworths, my response to the Senate inquiry would be that customers have the freedom to shop elsewhere. Earning a substantial profit is my prerogative. I do not dictate to the government the rates they set for excise taxes on fuel, alcohol, or cigarettes, which have been excessively taxing Australians for years. If my Return on Equity were -26%, would that be deemed acceptable by the government?

I would tell the Senate inquiry that I do not coerce my suppliers into selling their produce or staples; they are at liberty to conduct business elsewhere. I am confident we could procure most goods from other countries at rates much lower than what local farmers and producers currently charge. There is a lesson here for future voters.

Labor, along with the Greens, has stifled growth in every conceivable way, and now our company is under attack because THIS GOVERNMENT seeks to extract billions from our coffers to compensate for their costly policy failures that have burdened taxpayers with hundreds of millions.