Jim Anderton MP Thu Aug 26 1999

The Commerce Commission and the Government must be the only people in the country who believe the oil companies are not in some form of collusion, Alliance leader Jim Anderton says.

He's calling for an urgent inquiry into the failure of the competitive environment in the oil industry, following announcements of yet another round of price increases and a Ministry of Commerce report showing oil companies are increasing their margins.

'New Zealanders are sick of hearing that competition means all petrol prices will be the same. It's the height of naivete to believe the oil companies all independently decide on exactly the same price strategy, and they all increase their margins by exactly the same amount at exactly the same time.

'This is a cartel. Overseas owned oil companies are levying what amounts to a private tax at the petrol pump.

'Even the notorious banking industry offers slightly differing interest rate packages to home mortgage buyers.

'In February this year, oil company margins were being driven down by competition from Challenge. Then Fletchers announced that Challenge was up for sale, and the industry expects an existing competitor to buy it. Ever since then, prices at the pump have been moving up. It shows that Challenge was providing real competition, but the major overseas companies do not compete between themselves.

'The Government should use its powers under the Commerce Act to urgently investigate collusion between the oil companies,' Jim Anderton said.

ENDS

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Gordon Campbell: On the Sony cyber attack

Given the layers of meta-irony involved, the saga of the Sony cyber attack seemed at the outset more like a snarky European art film than a popcorn entry at the multiplex.

Yet now with (a) President Barack Obama weighing in on the side of artistic freedom and calling for the US to make a ‘proportionate response’quickly followed by (b) North Korea’s entire Internet service going down, and with both these events being followed by (c) Sony deciding to backtrack and release The Interview film that had made it a target for the dastardly North Koreans in the first place, then ay caramba…the whole world will now be watching how this affair pans out. More>>