Prime Minister Anthony Albanese set to make price gouging illegal in major announcement

Laws to make price gouging at supermarkets will go before parliament by “the end of the year” if Labor is elected, its campaign spokesman has declared.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is set to make supermarket price gouging illegal, with a re-elected Labor government vowing to have legislation before parliament by “the end of the year”.

Mr Albanese will announce the harsher measures to tackle price gouging, which is when businesses charge prices people deem are too high or excessive — particularly during periods of high demand or lack of supply - on day two of the election campaign.

“Labor will make price gouging by supermarkets illegal,” Mr Albanese said.

“Because Australian families deserve a fair price at the checkout and Australian farmers deserve a fair price for their goods.”

Speaking on Sky News on Sunday morning, campaign spokesman Jason Clare said legislation would be introduced by “the end of the year” if the government is returned to power.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is set to make supermarket price gouging illegal in a major announcement just days into the election campaign. Picture: Jason Edwards/NewsWire

Mr Albanese said Aussie families ‘deserve a fair price at the checkout’. Picture: NewsWire

Treasurer Jim Chalmers said Labor was “making sure Australians aren’t being treated like mugs”.

“We’re delivering a better deal for families at the checkout and a better deal for farmers at the farm gate,” he said.

“Our plan helps deliver more competition, fairer prices and better deals for Australians.”

The vow comes just more than a week after the consumer watchdog released its landmark report into supermarkets.

Addressing shrinkflation was one of the 20 recommendations handed down in the report, with the Australian Consumer Competition Commission saying “supermarkets should be required to publish notifications when package size changes occur in a manner adverse to consumers”.

At the bare minimum, the alerts should be published “in proximity to the product ticket on shelves” and online, and remain for one to two months to “enable consumers to become aware of the unit price change”, the report said.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers said Labor was ‘making sure Australians aren’t being treated like mugs’. Picture: Jason Edwards/NewsWire

The Labor government has given in-principle support to all 20 recommendations, however has not committed to maintaining all the measures.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has also threatened to split up powerful supermarket giants, with the Coalition earlier calling for divestiture to be brought in as a “last resort”.

Although divestiture was not part of the terms of reference for the ACCC report, the consumer watchdog did make recommendations for improving competition which fall well short of a big stick approach.

In an major cost-of-living election pitch to voters, Mr Dutton promised to equip the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission with “last resort” powers to break up major players in the supermarket and hardware sectors if they are found to be abusing their market dominance, should he be elected.

The he vow comes just more than a week after the consumer watchdog released its landmark report into supermarkets Picture: Newswire / Gaye Gerard

The Labor government has given in-principle support to all 20 of the ACCC’s recommendations. Picture: Newswire/ Gaye Gerard

This could be through price gouging customers, while driving down prices paid to suppliers and farmers.

Cost of living is set to be a dominant campaign battleground issue as the country attempts to recover from years of high inflation.

Mr Albanese kicked off his first day of official campaigning by making an explosive pit stop in Mr Dutton’s electorate of Dickson in Brisbane.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton promised to lower rates of homelessness and banish the ‘level of despair’ in the Dickson community on the first day of election campaigning. Picture: Thomas Lisson/NewsWire

The Prime Minister spent the day highlighting Labor’s investment in infrastructure as well as Medicare and bulk billing.

Mr Dutton, who also stopped by his own electorate, promised to lower rates of homelessness and banish the “level of despair” in the Dickson community.

He also said the Coalition would bring Australian electricity prices by injecting more gas into the country’s grid rather than exporting it offshore.

Originally published as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese set to make price gouging illegal in major announcement