Name: 澳洲的壟斷危機，就藏在你我眼前！ (Australia’s Monopoly Is Hidden in Plain Sight)
Uploaded: 2025-11-28T14:31:08.000Z
Duration: 23 min 30 s

How much did you make in the last financial year, Mr. Banducci?

Banducci 先生，您上一個會計年度的收入是多少？

Senator, that's available in our annual report.

參議員，這部分在我們的年度報告裡都有。

情態副詞

I'm simply asking you the question, Mr. Banducci, how much did you make in the last financial year?

我只是問您一個問題，Banducci 先生，您上一個會計年度的收入是多少？

Senator, as I said, it's available in our annual report.

參議員，就像我說的，這部分在我們的年度報告裡都有。

I know it's available in your annual report, Mr.

我知道您的年度報告裡有，Banducci 先生，

I'm asking you in front of a Senate committee how much you made in the last financial year.

我在參議院委員會面前問您，您上一個會計年度的收入是多少。

I mean, what's your reluctance to disclose that?

我的意思是，您為什麼不願意透露呢？

Senator, my base salary at Woolworths is $2.6 million.

參議員，我在 Woolworths 的基本薪資是 260 萬美元。

And then I get a short term bonus and a long term bonus, depending our performance relative to the metrics I've just talked about on top of that.

另外，我們還有短期獎金和長期獎金，這取決於我們的績效是否達到我剛才提到的指標。

And what did that add up to your total remuneration in the last financial year?

那您上一個會計年度的總薪酬加起來是多少？

As you would see in our annual report, it is, I think it is $8.4 million in total.

您可以在我們的年度報告中看到，總共是 840 萬美元。

Welcome to another episode of Coldfusion.

歡迎收看最新一集的 Coldfusion。

That was Woolworths, outgoing CEO, being grilled in Parliament about whether Australians are paying too much at the grocery checkout for anyone outside the country.

這就是 Woolworths 的前任執行長，在國會裡被嚴厲質問，關於外國人是否在超市結帳時付了太多錢。

Woolworths is one of Australia's two supermarket giants.

Woolworths 是澳洲兩大超市巨頭之一。

Along with its rival, Coles, the pair dominate what Australians eat, drink and pay at the register.

它和競爭對手 Coles 一起，主導了澳洲人吃、喝以及在結帳時支付的費用。

On the surface, it looks like an ordinary corporate inquiry, but it's a symptom of something deeper.

表面上看，這似乎是一次普通的公司調查，但它卻是更深層問題的徵兆。

Australia has quietly become one of the most monopolized economies in the developed world.

澳洲已悄悄成為已開發國家中最壟斷經濟的國家之一。

And when you live here like I do, you can look around and see it.

而且如果你像我一樣住在這裡，環顧四周就能看見。

Two supermarkets control nearly 2/3 of all grocery sales.

兩家超市就掌控了將近三分之二的雜貨銷售額。

Two airlines handle over 90% of domestic flights.

兩家航空公司負責了九成以上的國內班機。

Four banks hold the savings of most Australians.

四家銀行掌握了大多數澳洲人的存款。

One media empire dominates the national conversation.

一個媒體帝國主導了全國的輿論。

And telecommunications has long been ruled by Telstra, a former state monopoly.

而電信業長期以來由前國營壟斷企業 Telstra 統治。

As you'll see, some of these corporations use their economic weight to shape the political process.

你會發現，其中一些公司利用他們的經濟實力來影響政治進程。

They lobby governments, pressure regulators, and work behind the scenes to keep the system tilted in their favor.

他們遊說政府、施壓監管機構，並在幕後運作，讓體制朝著對他們有利的方向傾斜。

Mining companies have gone head to head with governments and wondering.

礦業公司曾與政府正面對決，並感到困惑。

Now the question is, how did a wealthy modern country end up like this?

那麼問題來了，一個富裕的現代國家怎麼會變成這樣？

And what does it mean for the future of ordinary Australians?

這對一般澳洲人的未來又意味著什麼？

Money buys influence, and influence protects money, which buys more influence.

金錢買得到影響力，影響力保護金錢，金錢又買得到更多影響力。

Once that cycle takes hold, it can shape entire markets and at the extreme end, entire countries.

一旦這個循環開始運轉，它就能塑造整個市場，甚至在極端情況下，塑造整個國家。

Now, just for definition's sake, Australia is actually full of duopolies and oligopolies rather than strict monopolies.

好了，為了定義清楚，澳洲其實充滿了雙頭壟斷和寡頭壟斷，而不是嚴格的壟斷。

The former is when two companies or a few companies dominate an industry.

前者是指有兩家公司或少數幾家公司主導一個產業。

Concentrated power in the hands of a few Companies in the UK, the largest supermarket holds less than 30% of the market, with others close behind.

在英國，權力集中在少數幾家公司手中，最大的超市市佔率不到 30%，其他公司緊隨其後。

Whereas in Australia, Coles and Woolworths together control more than 65%.

而在澳洲，Coles 和 Woolworths 加起來就佔了超過 65%。

In the US and Europe, budget carriers thrive on short, busy routes and constantly chip away at the larger airlines.

在美國和歐洲，廉價航空公司在短程熱門航線上蓬勃發展，並不斷蠶食大型航空公司的市場。

Long distances push up costs, airports charge higher fees, landing slots are limited and loyalty schemes keep passengers tied to big carriers.

長途飛行會推高成本，機場收取較高的費用，降落時段有限，而忠誠度計畫讓乘客綁定大型航空公司。

It's no surprise then that Qantas and virgin carry 94% of all domestic travellers.

是以，Qantas 和 Virgin 航空佔了國內旅客總數的 94%，這並不令人意外。

那麼，情況是如何變成這樣的呢？

Well, part of the answer lies in geography.

It's not what you'd think, but hear me out.

這跟你想的不太一樣，但請聽我說。

Australia is huge, roughly the same size as the continental United States, but

澳洲非常廣闊，大約和美國大陸一樣大，但

The vast majority cluster in a few coastal cities separated by long stretches of empty land.

絕大多數人聚集在幾個沿海城市，這些城市之間隔著長長的空地。

This makes distribution costly and leaves fewer customers in each market.

這讓配送成本很高，而且每個市場的客戶也比較少。

Economists call this a thin market, one with so few buyers and sellers that competition is weak and prices are easier to control.

經濟學家稱之為「薄市場」，買賣雙方都很少，競爭力弱，價格也更容易被控制。

Now compare that with the United States, where more than 340 million people share one integrated economy.

現在來比較一下美國，有超過 3.4 億人口共享一個整合的經濟體。

Giants like Walmart and Kroger are huge, but they still face plenty of regional rivals.

像 Walmart 和 Kroger 這樣的巨頭雖然龐大，但仍然面臨許多地區性的競爭對手。

So yes, geography and dwelling demographics explain part of the picture, but not all of it.

所以，沒錯，地理和人口居住模式確實解釋了部分原因，但不是全部。

Other countries with similar challenges, like Canada, have been more willing to break up companies to keep competition alive.

其他面臨類似挑戰的國家，例如加拿大，更願意拆散公司來維持競爭。

They've got a problem, so they fan the flames.

他們製造問題，然後煽風點火。

The lay of the land set the stage for corporate concentration.

地理環境為企業集中奠定了基礎。

But political choices made it much worse.

Sometimes it's quiet, buried in policy papers or whispered in back rooms.

有時它很安靜，隱藏在政策文件中或在密室裡低語。

Other times, though, it's a relentless ad campaign on TV.

但有時，它是一場電視上永不停止的廣告宣傳。

One of the most dramatic examples came in 2010.

最戲劇性的例子之一發生在 2010 年。

That year there'd been a global boom in commodity prices.

那一年，全球商品價格大幅上漲。

Being a resource exporting country, the Australian government decided to use some of this new massive wealth creation to to pay back the public support for small businesses, tax cuts for businesses, retirement boosts, infrastructure spending and that kind of thing.

澳洲作為一個資源出口國，政府決定利用這筆龐大的新增財富來回報公眾對小企業的支持、企業減稅、終身俸補助、基礎設施支出等等。

It's a pretty good idea, as using natural resource profits to help the nation is similar to what Norway does.

這是一個很棒的主意，因為利用自然資源利潤來幫助國家，與挪威的做法很相似。

So for Australia, in order to carry this out, they needed to tax the mining companies a bit more.

所以，澳洲為了實現這一點，需要對礦業公司多徵收一點稅。

And before you feel bad, some of these guys were making $14 billion a year, a 200% increase year on year.

在你覺得同情之前，這些公司中的一些人一年賺了 140 億美元，年增長率高達 200%。

When the mining industry heard about the proposed reforms, they were furious.

當礦業聽說這項改革提議時，他們勃然大怒。

They set out to seek revenge on the government.

A $25 million ad blitz was dropped from the heavens.

一場 2500 萬美元的廣告攻勢從天而降。

TV screens were filled with warnings of the sky falling.

電視螢幕充斥著世界末日的警告。

If the government proposal goes through, jobs will vanish, investment will flee and the economy will be ruined.

如果政府的提議通過，工作將消失，投資將逃離，經濟將被毀滅。

The public was mortified and meanwhile mining industry lobbyists work the corridors of government.

公眾感到震驚，同時礦業的遊說者在政府走廊裡穿梭。

Within months, the then Prime Minister Kevin Rudd went from a 70% approval rating in the polls to being thrown out of the government.

幾個月內，當時的總理陸克文的支持率從民調的 70% 下降到被趕下臺。

Internally, his party thought that his image had deteriorated so badly that he was a risk to them all.

在黨內，他們認為他的形象嚴重受損，對大家都是個風險。

There was a lot more political drama surrounding this incident, but let's not get into that.

關於這起事件還有更多政治戲劇，但我們就不深入探討了。

For many observers at the time, however, this was a benchmark case.

不過，對許多觀察家來說，這是一個指標性的案例。

It showed that when the stakes are high enough, corporations can shape policies and more importantly, the direction of political leadership itself.

這顯示當利益夠高時，企業可以塑造政策，更重要的是，塑造政治領導層本身的方向。

For Australia, it's sad because what politician would ever challenge the mining companies for the benefit of the average Australian again as boldly so if you think that's nuts, it's just a taste of the wildness here.

對澳洲來說，這很令人難過，因為還有哪個政治人物會再像這樣勇敢地為了普通澳洲人的利益挑戰礦業公司呢？如果你覺得這很瘋狂，那這只是這裡瘋狂的一小部分。

Australia turns into an absolute clown show when you look at our banking system.

當我們看看澳洲的銀行體系時，澳洲簡直成了個笑話。

The dominance of four banks have sucked all the money out of the productive economy and thrown it into the housing market.

四家銀行佔據主導地位，吸走了所有生產性經濟的資金，並將其投入房地產市場。

A 2022 S&P Global estimate says that these banks have cornered 72% of the market and newer estimates say 75%.

根據 S&P Global 在 2022 年的估計，這些銀行壟斷了 72% 的市場，而最新的估計則為 75%。

It's an abnormally high concentration and it's resulted in some absolute buffoonery within our economy because there's no competition.

這是一個異常高的集中度，導致我們的經濟出現了一些絕對的荒謬，因為沒有競爭。

They all have the same business model that virtually does one thing, lend money to buy homes.

它們都有相同的商業模式，幾乎只做一件事：借錢買房。

In contrast, in many other countries, banks loan to a whole range of sectors, businesses, agricultural and consumer sectors.

相比之下，在許多其他國家，銀行會向各個領域、企業、農業和消費領域提供貸款。

Meanwhile, in Australia, 70% of those four banks entire existence is to just finance buying homes, all in lockstep.

在澳洲，這四家銀行有 70% 的業務全都是在為買房融資，而且是同步進行的。

It's gotten so bad that it's twisted and distorted our entire economy.

情況已經糟到扭曲了我們的整個經濟。

The end result is that the Australian economy is less complex than that of Botswana.

結果就是澳洲的經濟比波札那還要不發達。

Australia ranks 105th on the Harvard Economic Complexity Index behind countries like Botswana, Zambia and Pakistan.

澳洲在哈佛經濟複雜度指數中排名第 105 名，落後於波札那、尚比亞和巴基斯坦等國家。

That's something I learned about when I first arrived here and it's always stuck with me.

這是我剛來這裡時學到的，而且一直讓我印象深刻。

Before anyone starts yelling hey Sepo, go home.

在大家開始大喊「嘿 Sepo，回家啦」之前。

Let me explain what it means and why it matters.

讓我來解釋一下這代表什麼，以及為什麼它很重要。

The quasi monopolization of big retail brands makes it even more difficult for smaller competitor brands to gain a foothold in the market.

大型零售品牌的準壟斷，讓小型競爭品牌更難在市場上站穩腳跟。

有兩家業者壟斷了雜貨和酒類市場。

Likewise, two aviation firms rule the skies.

同樣地，有兩家航空公司稱霸天空。

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澳洲的壟斷危機，就藏在你我眼前！ (Australia’s Monopoly Is Hidden in Plain Sight)

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