"I think I'm done": The question that made Woolies CEO leave interview
Woolworths CEO Brad Banducci has cracked under the pressure during a tense interview with ABC's Four Corners.
The supermarket boss sat down with reporter Angus Grigg as part of a deep dive into the supermarket industry in Australia amid the ACCC's investigation into allegations of unfair price gouging.
The program questioned how supermarkets have been profiting from rising prices amidst the cost of living crisis and spoke with a number of key players, including Banducci and Coles boss Leah Weckert.
The supermarkets have long denied the allegations have since become the focus of investigations by both the Senate and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).
“Rod Sims, the former head of the ACCC, says that we have one of the most concentrated supermarket [sectors] in the world, is he lying?” Griggs asked Banducci.
“It’s not true. [He’s] retired, by the way,” Banducci said.
The comment caught Griggs off guard, to which he responded, “I don’t think you would impugn his integrity and his understanding of competition law. He retired 18 months ago.”
Banducci then began to appear agitated and asked if his comments could be removed.
This is what happened when Four Corners asked Woolworths CEO Brad Banducci about the lack of competition in the Australian grocery market.
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“Can we take that out? Is that ok? Angus, are we going to leave it in?” he said.
“I shouldn’t have said that about Rod, about him being retired. I mean, he is retired, but I shouldn’t have said that. Are we going to leave that in there?”
Upon being told that his comments were “on the record” and would not be taken out, Banducci said, “I think I’m done guys.”
“I do this with good intent, and I don’t do this with bad intent,” he said as he walked away.
“Really, you’re walking out?” Grigg asked.
Banducci then disappeared from view, reportedly to talk with his PR team, before returning a few moments later to complete the interview.
Speaking to ABC’s News Breakfast on Monday after the episode aired, Griggs called the move “pretty startling”.
“I think it shows you that, there you have the boss of the largest supermarket chain in the country really unwilling to face too many questions,” he said.
“It shows how little scrutiny they’ve had over the years and I think that’s a really big problem.”
Image credits: ABC