Anthony Albanese has offered to give the competition watchdog extra powers to combat price gouging, after comments from the regulator suggesting it could sue grocery giants for deceptive special discounts.
On Tuesday, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission chair, Gina Cass-Gottlieb, said it was “carefully looking” at a potential claim that some discounts amounted to deceptive conduct – when retailers increased prices for a brief period beforehand, exaggerating consumer savings.
Grocery prices are under renewed scrutiny, with Labor’s appointment of Craig Emerson to lead a review of the grocery code of conduct and comments by Albanese highlighting a “discrepancy” between flat or reduced prices paid by Coles and Woolworths to farmers, and high consumer prices.
Although the ACCC has limited powers to consider claims of price-gouging, Cass-Gottlieb told the Australian Financial Review it was “concerned” by so-called “was, now pricing” and it was “possible” it could bring litigation within the next 12 months.
On Tuesday, Albanese told reporters in Sydney: “[If] the ACCC asks for more powers, my government is up for giving it to them.”
“But the ACCC have some existing powers there – I note the comment of the head of the ACCC today saying that she would be prepared to exercise those powers,” he said.
Albanese said that Emerson was considering whether to make the voluntary grocery code of conduct mandatory.
“We are saying that when prices go down, when … supermarkets … are purchasing from farmers, that should result in cheaper prices for consumers,” he said.
“My government is concerned about the price of what consumers pay at Coles and Woolies and other supermarkets.”
Albanese took aim at opposition leader, Peter Dutton’s, call to boycott Woolworths supermarkets over a decision to not stock Australia Day merchandise, due to reduced demand.
Albanese said Dutton was “obsessed” with the culture war, questioning if the boycott call applied to other retailers, including Kmart and Aldi, which did not stock Australia Day merchandise.
“Woolworths alone employ more than 200,000 Australians,” he said. “I am not quite sure how Mr Dutton explains to the 200,000 employees of Woolworths that he thinks they shouldn’t have a job. Because if people boycott Woolworths, if no one is buying the product, guess what, the jobs disappear.”
Albanese also further hinted Australians would not have to wait until the May budget for cost-of-living relief.
“We are into making a difference, each and every day … and you’ll see in the lead up to the budget us continuing to make announcements … that make a practical difference,” he said.
An ACCC spokesperson told Guardian Australia it “will not hesitate to take action against large suppliers who are misleading customers about prices”.
“For some time now, we have been closely considering the reports received from consumers alleging false or misleading ‘was/now’ or other pricing ‘specials’ advertising by supermarkets, and whether they may raise concerns under the [Australian consumer law].
“These assessments are ongoing, so we are unable to comment further at this stage.”
The spokesperson reiterated the ACCC’s call for a “fit for purpose” test for reviewing “important mergers and acquisitions and a strengthening of the test to enable it to stop anti-competitive deals”.
“Australian consumers and businesses will pay higher prices and have less choice if anti-competitive mergers are able to continue to proceed.
“Evidence shows that Australia’s economy is being impacted by weakened competition in many sectors, risking higher prices for consumers and businesses.”
Increased margins helped Coles post a $1.1bn full-year profit at its most recent full-year results, while Woolworths lifted its annual profit to $1.6bn.
The spokesperson confirmed the ACCC had been in talks with government about an expanded role administering the grocery code after the Emerson review.
In May the Nationals leader, David Littleproud, offered to help Labor bolster competition law protection for farmers and suppliers in an effort to prevent potential abuses of market power by Australia’s big supermarkets.
Littleproud proposed making the grocery code of conduct compulsory, boosting penalties to a “punitive” $10m maximum and adding powers to break up grocery giants in the event of misconduct.
