The thing is without independents the supermarkets will just stock things which are high value items or high turnover items.
They will not stock stuff which is low turnover and make some medicines less available.
Also supermakets may also charge more for low turnover items which they already do.
Plus politicians are probably pretty worried about the coles and woolies getting too much power over medicines as once it starts it will be hard to wind back.
Price and access to medicine is a key brownie point winning issue every election if they lose control of this to large supermarket corporations they will be to exposed in the future to decrease competition, haggle on CSO payments and ask for lower dispensing fees you name it. 48 hour access to a medicine you need supermarkets may just say wait next week when truck comes or month when we make a supply order.
I think it is a risk but its not entirely broken yet so there is no need to fix it. The additional cost comes with additional benefit. MTS margins in groceries is 1-2 percent. API and SIGs are double.
