The government has threatened to do “whatever is necessary” to reduce food and grocery costs, but pre-emptive action by the major supermarket chains would have more impact on the cost of living in the short term than onerous regulatory changes.

Woolworths and Coles are on the nose with consumers, due to widespread perceptions of price gouging during a cost-of-living crisis, using technology to shift labour costs from staff to customers, and in Woolworths’ case, daring to stop stocking tacky Australia Day merchandise no one was buying anyway.