Use of hormones for livestock has been illegal in Australia since the 1970s. Residue testing has confirmed that there is no presence of hormones in Australian poultry meat:
http://www.foodstandards.gov.au/_srcfiles/P282_Poultry_PPPS_IAR_Final.pdf (see page 36 and following)
The whole hormones in chicken urban legend started due to a South American documentary looking into why girls were going through puberty at an increasingly younger age.
The far greater concern with hormones is BPA in plastic and tin food packaging, which acts as a thyroid disrputer - but you avoid this problem when you eat real fresh food.
Use of antibiotics in livestock happens, but there are regulated residue limits which are monitored by Food Standards Australia. Primary producers all pay a levy to fund residue testing. They test for it in all primary food production (eg wheat, sugar, honey etc as well). You can look up the residue results on foodstandards.gov.au. In meat the levels are extremely low.
The biggest concern really is mercury in fish, but that problem can be avoided by eating the right kind of fish. I'm lucky enough to live near a wholesaler that sells quality fresh caught Australian fish.
Grass fed free range beef is not that bad if you buy it from the source. You can get mince for $15/kg or less. Porterhouse is around $27/kg, which is the same as Coles
Of course protein powder is cheaper, if all you look at is $ per gram of protein.
The difference between spending money on protein and spending money on whole foods is quality. That was my point. I wasn't suggest protein was more expensive, it's just that the major thing justifying the price of protein is branding. The actual stuff you are paying for is much lower in quality than real food.