Greens unveil plan to make price gouging ‘illegal’
Aussie grocery giants face being broken up or paying hefty fines for price gouging under a wild election proposal from one party.
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Aussie grocery giants would face being broken up or paying hefty fines under a major proposal by one Aussie minor party, which has revealed plans to make price gouging in the country “illegal”.
The Greens will on Wednesday unveil a major plan to introduce a Prices Commission (PsC) to monitor price gouging across Australian supermarkets and the broader economy.
Companies would face hefty fines or be broken up by the commission under the minor party’s proposal.
The bold electoral policy – set to be launched by Greens leader Adam Bandt in Willis – follows a recent Freshwater poll finding the price of groceries topped people’s cost-of-living concerns before rent and power bills.
Seventy per cent of respondents listed the cost of living among their top three issues deciding the vote.
Mr Bandt said his party’s move was prompted by “inaction” on the heightened cost of living from the federal government amid the prospect of a minority government when the next federal election is called.
“In a wealthy country like ours everyone should be able to afford the basics, but people are getting smashed at the checkout,” Mr Bandt said.
“People are worried about rising grocery prices and the soaring cost of living, but governments aren’t acting.
“When it comes to the big supermarkets, Labor and Liberal take their donations but the Greens take them on.”
Under the Greens’ proposal, the PsC would have the power to make referrals to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) – a move they claim would be strengthened with additional resourcing.
The PsC would act as a commonwealth entity to examine and monitor prices and price-setting practices of corporations across the economy.
Staffing levels would be equivalent to the existing Productivity Commission.
The Greens have also promised an additional 20 full-time ACCC jobs to investigate referrals from the PsC, along with the use of divestiture powers and price gouging laws to break up duopolies and prohibit price gouging.
Greens economic justice spokespman senator Nick McKim said anti-competitive schemes that made grocery giants like Coles and Woolworths so big needed to be curbed.
“These supermarket giants have been making massive profits, ripping off their workers, and making you pay more,” he said.
“Labor and Liberal are sitting on their hands while shoppers around the country suffer from soaring grocery prices and rising bills, but the Greens are willing to take these big corporations on.”
The new proposal follows the ACCC announcing legal action against Coles and Woolworths over alleged breaches in Australian Consumer Law.
The watchdog alleges they both misled consumers through discount pricing claims on hundreds of common products between February 2022 and May 2023.
In an earlier statement, Woolworths said it was “carefully” reviewing the claims made by the ACCC, reiterating it was committed to offering ways for customers to save at the checkout.
“Our customers are telling us they want us to work even harder to deliver meaningful value to them and it’s important they can trust the value they see when shopping our stores,” Woolworths Group chief executive Amanda Bardwell said.
“Our Prices Dropped program was introduced to provide our customers with great everyday value on their favourite products.”
A Coles spokeswoman previously told NewsWire it would be defending the ACCC case.
Originally published as Greens unveil plan to make price gouging ‘illegal’
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