The Greens say an inquiry can find a way to “dismantle” the power of Australia’s two major supermarkets and bring down soaring grocery prices.
Key points:
- The Greens want the Australian parliament to interrogate the costs and revenues of the major supermarkets
- While food inflation has eased this year from its 9.2 per cent peak in December 2022, it is currently tracking at 4.8 per cent overall in 2023
- The latest household spending data from the ABS showed food has had the third highest rise in 2023
While many Australians are cutting back on their grocery spending due to rising living costs, Coles and Woolworths have reported profits in excess of a billion dollars.
The Greens believe these profits are being driven by the major supermarkets using global inflation and supply-chain issues as an excuse to charge more for their products than necessary.
“Coles and Woolworths are making billions in profits because they feel that they can overcharge people without repercussions. It needs to end,” Greens senator Nick McKim said.
While food inflation has eased this year from its 9.2 per cent peak in December 2022, it is currently tracking at 4.8 per cent overall in 2023.
And the latest household spending data from the ABS showed food has had the third highest rise in 2023.
A movement against alleged supermarket price gouging has been gaining momentum this year.
The Australian Council of Trade Unions has already launched its own inquiry, led by former ACCC chair Allan Fels.
Meanwhile, a guerilla campaign sticking homemade anti-price gouging labels in Coles and Woolworths stores has been shared thousands of times online.
Now, the Greens want the Australian parliament to interrogate the costs and revenues of the major supermarkets.
“This inquiry will have a look at price gouging, at the concentration of market power in the hands of the two big supermarkets … and it will find a way to bring down grocery prices,” Senator McKim said.
Australia’s market competition watchdog, the ACCC, last looked at Australia’s supermarket sector in 2008, where it estimated the market share of Coles and Woolworths to be approximately 70 per cent.
While the growth of Aldi and Costco since then has chipped away at that number, Coles and Woolworths still enjoy a majority hold over the market.
Mr Fels, who was the first ACCC chair, said this stubborn duopoly is the main reason behind high grocery prices.
Coles and Woolworths will soon face a Senate inquiry tasked with investigating market power and alleged price gouging as Australians battle inflation fatigue ahead of the expensive Christmas period.
The Greens are leading the inquiry which is expected to take place next year and will examine the impact of market concentration on food prices and what pricing strategies the duopoly is employing.
The party’s Economic Justice Spokesperson Senator Nick McKim said the supermarket giants have “too much market power”.
