Sam Rae (Hawke, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) acknowledges the Government is taking decisive action to help consumers get fairer prices at supermarkets, in stores and online, including:

(a) the release of an interim report from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), which looks at a wide range of concerns, from land-banking to shrinkflation;

(b) making suppliers follow the Food and Grocery Code of Conduct, a mandatory code, following the recommendations of former competition minister Craig Emerson; and

(c) revitalising the National Competition Policy to boost productivity and living standards;

(2) notes the Government believes that alleged misconduct in the supermarket sector is unfair, unacceptable, and it makes cost of living pressures worse for Australians, so it is:

(a) providing $30 million package of additional funding for the ACCC to crack down on misleading pricing practices and poor conduct; and

(b) funding CHOICE, the consumer organisation, over three years to report on supermarket prices across Australia; and

(3) recognises the Government's number one priority is tackling the cost of living pressures facing hard working Australians and making sure they are paying a fair price at the checkout, and Australian farmers are getting a fair price for their goods.

The Albanese Labor government is committed to tackling the cost-of-living pressures facing Australians. We won't stand by as supermarkets and retailers take advantage of the people that they are meant to serve. This motion recognises the critical role that our government is playing in building stronger, more competitive markets that put downward pressure on prices for all Australians.

It's clear that people in our community have been doing it very tough. The supermarket check-out is one of the sharpest reminders of the pressures on household budgets. Just a couple of months ago, the ACCC announced legal action against major supermarkets for allegedly engaging in deceptive pricing practices. The ACCC claimed that both Coles and Woolworths were temporarily inflating their prices so they could later mark them as discounts. That, in reality, offered no real savings—sometimes even charging more than the original price for the same products. This kind of behaviour is more than just deceptive; it shows utter contempt for Australian shoppers trying to stretch their budgets just that little bit further.

The Albanese Labor government is determined to take decisive action to prevent this type of manipulation and ensure that consumers get fairer prices at the supermarkets, in stores and online. Australians deserve transparency, fairness and honesty in pricing, and we're committed to delivering real, impactful solutions. That's why we've announced $30 million in additional funding to boost the ACCC's ability to monitor, investigate and enforce against pricing practices that raise such concerns. This funding will empower the ACCC to actively pursue cases where supermarkets and retailers may be unjustifiably inflating prices—all while hiding behind vague or misleading practices.

But we are not stopping there. The Treasurer is also working closely with state and territory leaders with the Council on Federal Financial Relations to reform planning and zoning regulations. These outdated frameworks, which include restrictive zoning laws and planning restrictions, currently stand as obstacles to genuine competition. They allow land banking, keeping prime retail space off the market, driving up costs for consumers and limiting choices in our communities. We're dismantling these barriers to ensure that more stores can open and consumers can get real choice.

The government is fully aware of the challenges Australian households are facing. For many, the rising cost of groceries is not just inconvenient; it's a source of real financial strain. That's why we are backing up our commitments with action and resources. The ACCC has reported that it is facing numerous issues in the sector that it would like to investigate, but the resources simply haven't been there—until now. The additional $30 million in funding over the next 3½ years will allow the ACCC to pursue its vital work. It will help ensure that supermarkets play fair and Australians can see genuine relief.

These changes come in addition to the Albanese Labor government's recently announced overhaul of Australian merger laws. That legislation currently before the House focuses particularly on supermarket mergers and is critical to protecting fair competition in a sector that impacts on every Australian household. By ensuring the ACCC is notified of all proposed mergers in the supermarket industry, we are making it clear that consolidation in this sector will not go unchecked. Supermarket mergers have the potential to reduce competition and drive up prices, directly affecting families, pensioners and everyday Australia trying to stretch their budgets. By keeping the supermarket sector as competitive as possible, we are working to deliver fairer prices at the checkout and prevent the formulation of monopolies that would hurt consumers in the long term.

This motion and the measures the Albanese Labor government is putting forward are about delivering genuine relief to Australians feeling the weight of cost-of-living pressures. We know that Australians are being stretched thin, and we are committed to using every lever available to promote fair competition, reduce unnecessary price hikes and ensure that grocery bills reflect real value for our communities. By equipping the ACCC with the resources it needs, strengthening our competition policy and implementing reforms to scrutinise supermarket mergers, we are protecting Australians from inflated prices and helping to keep more money in their pockets.

Scott Buchholz (Wright, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is the motion seconded?

Carina Garland (Chisholm, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I second the motion and reserve my right to speak.

Dan Tehan (Wannon, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Immigration and Citizenship) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Since the last election, food prices have risen by 12 per cent. In 2½ years, they've risen 12 per cent. Health costs are up 10.5 per cent. Housing is up 13 per cent. Gas is up 33 per cent. Insurance is up 17 per cent. I could go on. We are in the midst of a cost-of-living crisis, and nowhere is this being felt more than when it comes to food prices. Everyone has seen it on a daily basis because, when they go to the supermarket, there before them they are seeing that prices continue to go up and up.

Sadly, the government has no answer to this cost-of-living crisis. That is why the coalition is putting forward policies to fix the mess that the Labor government have made. What we are doing today is making sure we are standing up for working families and our farmers. The coalition is standing up for those working families and for our farmers by introducing the Food and Grocery (Mandatory) Code of Conduct Bill 2024. This private member's bill will restore fairness for consumers, families, suppliers and farmers. What will this plan do? It will make the food and grocery code of conduct mandatory for supermarkets with an annual turnover of at least $5 billion. It will have higher penalties for breaches of the code—the greater of $10 million, three times the value of the benefit obtained from a contravention or, where the court can't determine the benefit from a contravention, 10 per cent of annual turnover. This will enable infringement penalties of $2 million.

We'll also give the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission powers to undertake audits of supermarkets to ensure that supermarkets are compliant with the code; create a supermarket commissioner to act as a confidential avenue for farmers and suppliers to address the fear of retribution; and also introduce the Competition and Consumer Amendment (Tougher Penalties for Supermarket and Hardware Businesses) Bill 2024 to establish sector-specific divestiture powers in the hands of the ACCC and the courts, not members of parliament, as a last resort to address the behaviour of supermarkets and to put an end to instances of price gouging. Divestiture powers will come with appropriate public interest safeguards.

The coalition is committed to delivering competition policy which supports consumers and smaller businesses, not the big corporations and lobbyists. Competitive markets benefit everyone by ensuring lower prices, creating more employment opportunities and fostering innovation. Labor have completely failed on competition policy, and that is why we are seeing people paying so much more at the supermarket. Labor have failed to address inflation and to be able to drive interest rates down, and that is what is really hurting Australians. When it comes to rural and regional Australia and to my electorate of Wannon, it is exactly the same.

What people want to see is a government that is focused on getting cost-of-living pressures down. What people want to see is a government that is going to address inflation and make sure it deals with inflation. I'm sorry to have to report this, but right now the Australian people are looking at this government and the Prime Minister and saying: 'He looks weak. He looks like he can't do anything to address these issues. He looks incompetent.' They are calling out for action, and that is why we are introducing this private member's bill today to make sure that we're stepping up where the government is failing. We understand, and have seen for 2½ years, that the cost-of-living pressure is hurting. We are now providing the solutions that the government should have been adopting for a long, long time. So I say to everyone listening today: rest assured the opposition understands your difficulties, and that's why we're putting solutions forward.

Carina Garland (Chisholm, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'd like to thank the member for Hawke for bringing this important motion to the House. Our government has been very squarely focused on repairing a set of economic circumstances which we inherited from the previous government and which was not in good nick, and we've been very squarely focused on relieving pressure on households. Despite the politicking we just heard from the previous speaker, we have been putting some really substantial bills before the House and passing legislation. Despite the revisionist history from those opposite, we have been taking active steps and taking very seriously the circumstances that everyday households find themselves living in in this country, largely as a result of the terrible mismanagement of the economy by the previous government. I really wish that this work were above politics for those opposite and that they had supported many of the measures that we've put forward in our term of government to relieve pressure on households, such as energy bill relief, increasing wages and the measures before us today in terms of our action in relation to supermarket pricing, because we don't want to see ordinary Australians, families and pensioners being taken for a ride by the supermarkets. In my electorate of Chisholm, we undertook a survey of the community in relation to their views on supermarket pricing, and I used the information that I garnered from that process to make a submission to the ACCC inquiry on my community's behalf. I will always be prepared to speak up for my community and for fairness.

As I mentioned earlier, we inherited a terrible set of circumstances from the previous government but we are squarely focused on fixing the economy, on making sure inflation gets under control and on making life easier for households right across Australia. It would be really nice if, for once, the opposition could work with us to do this rather than use this moment as a political football and to be tacticians rather than leaders. Our government is taking decisive action to help consumers get fairer prices at the supermarket check-out in stores and online. As we know, the Prime Minister and Treasurer have announced funding of around $30 million to help the ACCC conduct more investigations and enforcement in the supermarket and retail sectors. This will enhance the regulator's ability to monitor behaviour and to investigate pricing practices where there are concerns about supermarkets and retailers falsely justifying higher prices.

Additionally, the Treasurer will work closely with states and territories through the Council on Federal Financial Relations to reform planning and zoning regulations, which will help boost competition supermarket sector by opening up more sites for new stores. Current planning and zoning frameworks including land-use restrictions, zoning laws and planning regulations are unfortunately acting as a barrier to competition. By inhibiting businesses entering expansion, they potentially allow for things like land banking, which prevents competition and pushes up prices in our local communities.

On this side of the House we understand people are under pressure and at the check-out is one of the places they feel it the sharpest. This extra funding provided to the ACCC will ensure a fair go for Australians from the supermarkets. The ACCC has told the government there are issues it is seeing an economy it would like to investigate but it needs more resources to do so. The additional $30 million in resourcing over 3½ years will give the ACCC what it needs to pursue the type of process it announced in its allegations against the supermarkets, which is a step that our government decided to take after years of inaction by those opposite.

Unlike the coalition and the Greens, our government has policies on supermarket and grocery prices that can be implemented now, will work and make economic sense. The Emerson review of the Food and Grocery Code looked at divestiture and it didn't recommend it. The review pointed out it could actually make things worse. Our government is really focused on making things better for households across Australia, making supermarket prices fairer, and I would really urge those opposite to stop using this moment just to engage in political tactics and do the right thing by Australian households and back our government's plan in.

Sam Birrell (Nicholls, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to start by saying that generally over time the supermarkets have done a pretty good job. We do need the supermarkets. They provide a service, they provide a way for farmers to sell their produce and they provide a service for Australian people buy food. We do need them. We need them to be profitable but we need them to be fair and we need them to provide sustainability for their suppliers. We also need competition amongst supermarkets to make sure we get that balance we are looking for in this policy. The balance is we want the lowest possible and fair prices for consumers but we don't want to threaten the businesses of the suppliers who supply the supermarkets. That is the critical balance we have to get in this policy. There have been instances where the supermarkets have abused their market power and those have been highlighted in the recent inquiries in this place.

Many people will know that my electorate of Nicholls is the food bowl—there are a lot of food bowls including in Toowoomba—of Australia and it grows 90 per cent of Australia's pears, nearly 50 per cent of Australia's apples, peaches, a huge amount of Australia's dairy exports and processed dairy products, so I and my constituents do have some experience in dealing with supermarkets. What the farm businesses have told me is, yes, there can be a good relationship with supermarkets but there have been times when the supermarkets have taken advantage of the fact that these people have a perishable product and that is not fair. They've also said that there's nothing more soul-destroying than going into a supermarket and seeing the goods that you've produced being sold for less than the cost of production. So I think the private member's bill that was brought in by the member for Maranoa and the member for Hume this morning is a great step forward in the way we look at supermarkets.

There's been a lot said about the divestiture powers that our policy entails, and there's been some serious misreporting on this issue. I've read articles by lazy journalists, if I can call them that, saying, 'Oh, the Nationals want to break up the big supermarkets.' That's ridiculous. All we're doing, with the coalition, is putting a deterrent in so that the supermarkets are less likely to abuse their market power. To say, 'The Nationals want to break up the supermarkets,' is like saying, every time you pass a law that's got a jail term, that you want to put everyone in jail. It's nonsense. I hope those divestiture powers are never used, but I also hope, and I believe, that the supermarkets will look at those enhanced powers, the higher fines and the divestiture powers, and say, 'We'd better not test this out, because we don't want to fall foul of what that might mean for us.' That will lead to better behaviour; to better outcomes for the suppliers of products to the supermarkets, the farmers around Australia; and to better outcomes for consumers, who will pay prices that are fair and as low as possible within the bounds of sustainability for farm businesses.

The other thing that the private member's bill and the coalition policy will do is appoint a supermarket commissioner, and that supermarket commissioner will act as an impartial, confidential avenue for farmers and suppliers to have their grievances heard. We certainly need that, so I think that's a really important part of the coalition's policy.

In the time I've got left, I note that the most important thing for Australian people is to have cheap, reliable and sustainably produced food, and I include business sustainability along with environmental sustainability in that. Policies that attack agriculture do not provide a sustainable supply chain for food in this country. Taking more irrigation water away from irrigators in the Murray-Darling Basin, forcing farmers to pay a biosecurity tax and making industrial relations laws so difficult that small businesses—and, let's face it, most farms are small businesses—can't navigate when they're trying to employ people are just some of the many policies that are an attack on agriculture and, therefore, an attack on the economy in my region.

The policies that the coalition presented this morning are very good and should be supported.

Fiona Phillips (Gilmore, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In my electorate of Gilmore, we have the second-highest number of age pensioners of any electorate in the country, and the average household weekly income is $1,293, putting Gilmore in the bottom 16 electorates in Australia. Our pensioners are struggling with the cost of living, as are families across Gilmore and, indeed, all over the country. That's why we're putting in place measures to help them.

The Albanese government is working hard across many levels to provide real cost-of-living relief, and, for many families and pensioners, saving on their weekly grocery bill is top of the agenda. With grocery prices on the rise, the supermarket check-out is one place where people are tightening their belts, so we want to make sure their dollar is going further with every shop. We don't want to see ordinary Australians, including families and pensioners, being taken for a ride by the supermarkets. That's why we're taking decisive action to help consumers get fairer prices at the check-out, both in stores and online.

The Prime Minister and the Treasurer have announced $30 million in funding to help the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission conduct more investigations and enforcement in the supermarket and retail sectors. This extra funding over 3½ years will enhance the ACCC's ability to monitor supermarkets and retailers and to investigate consumer concerns about falsely justified higher prices. This government is giving the ACCC what it needs to pursue the type of process that it announced in its allegations against the supermarkets. We're cracking down on supermarkets, and we're doing this to ensure that people who are doing it tough all around Australia are getting a fair go. We all know how fired up shoppers become when they feel they're getting ripped off at the check-out. I know I get frustrated by hard-to-read supermarket labels and confusing pricing on the shelves, so I understand how difficult it must be for Gilmore's thousands of age pensioners.

By providing CHOICE with $1.1 million to conduct quarterly price-monitoring reports for three years, the Albanese government is giving all Australians the information they need to get the best deal on their weekly shop. The CHOICE 'basket of goods' report presents data based on the purchase of 14 common grocery items at major supermarkets to help consumers make informed decisions about what they're buying. This initiative is an important part of the government's broader efforts to boost competition and put downward pressure on the price of essentials. It's another way we are making our supermarkets as competitive as they can be so Australians get the best prices possible.

This government is also clamping down on unfair and excessive card surcharges, because every extra cent and every extra dollar at the check-out is another hit in the back pocket of ordinary Australians. People shouldn't be slugged with excessive surcharges when they tap their card or phone at their corner store, coffee shop, petrol station or supermarket. We're getting tough so consumers get a better deal and to reduce costs for small businesses by creating a more competitive payment system across the retail sector. Consumers shouldn't be punished for using cards or digital payments, but at the same time we must ensure that small businesses aren't paying hefty fees just to get paid themselves.

This government has announced $2.1 million for the ACCC to tackle excessive surcharges. This funding will enable the consumer watchdog to crack down on illegal and unfair surcharging practices and increase education and compliance activities. We're prepared to ban debit card surcharging from 1 January 2026, subject to further work by the Reserve Bank and safeguards to ensure small businesses and consumers can both benefit from lower costs. The Reserve Bank of Australia is responsible for regulating the payment system and is undertaking a review of merchant card payment costs and surcharging. The RBA's review is an important step to reduce the costs small businesses face when processing payments. At the end of the day, we want to ease costs for consumers without added costs for small businesses or unintended consequences for the broader economy. Reducing excessive surcharges will help people and small business owners keep more of their hard-earned money in their wallets and bank accounts.

Labor's inquiry into pricing and competition in the supermarket sector run by the ACCC, the Food and Grocery Code of Conduct review, the Competition Taskforce's focus on cost-of-living initiatives and the CHOICE quarterly reports will help consumers get a better deal at the check-out and reduce cost-of-living pressures for all Australians.

Rebekha Sharkie (Mayo, Centre Alliance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I welcomed the government's direction to the ACCC to conduct an inquiry into the Australian supermarket sector. At a time when so many businesses, primary producers and families are experiencing economic pain, we need to ensure that fairness prevails in a sector dominated by just two companies. Given the ACCC's consumer survey received more than 21,400 responses, more than any other survey previously conducted, the question of fairness was very much on notice. The survey highlighted what I am hearing on a regular basis, with families buying less food, skipping meals and experiencing emotional distress when grocery shopping. Of respondents in the lowest household income bracket of less than $499 per week after tax, 76 per cent reported spending at least 20 per cent of their post-tax income on groceries, and 28 per cent reported spending at least 40 per cent of their post-tax income on groceries. This is a national disgrace.

Amid this tragedy, we have the Reserve Bank governor on a salary of $1 million warning some Australians that they may have to sell their home in order to cope with high inflation and interest rates. We have Australians that can't feed themselves, let alone house themselves. Such advice from overpaid bureaucrats is not only insulting but demonstrates the abject disconnect between the haves and the have-nots. As grocery prices have soared 23 per cent between the March 2019 quarter and the June 2024 quarter, Australians have been forced to put fewer grocery items in the trolley, and many of those items have also shrunk. We've even coined a term for it, calling it shrinkflation. This isn't the only deception. The ACCC has commenced separate proceedings in the Federal Court against Woolworths and Coles for allegedly breaching the Australian Consumer Law by misleading consumers through discount pricing, suggesting that the Woolworths 'Prices Dropped' and Coles 'Down Down' promotion prices were higher than or the same as those of other products or the same as their previous regular prices.

This behaviour has been allowed to flourish as a consequence of the duopoly that we have. The two companies account for 67 per cent of all grocery sales, which is, with the exception of New Zealand and Norway, the highest level of supermarket and grocery concentration across 15 countries selected in the report using comparable population sizes and geography. Without drastic intervention, I don't see this dominance waning. Land banking, a practice used by the majors to create barriers to entry, remains a significant problem. Woolworths currently maintains interest in 110 sites and Coles in 42 sites. By comparison, Aldi has a mere 13 sites held for future development.

The influence of the supermarket duopoly affects consumers, producers and every touchpoint along the supply chain. Last week I met with a producer who shared abhorrent stories of unscrupulous exploitation and the deliberate and systematic abuse of the supermarkets' position as the price maker. One recent example consisted of producers seeking 40c more per unit—this is for a perishable item—than what was offered, when, incidentally, the 40c was the only profit component. Rather than negotiate, the supermarket put signs up on their shelves across many stores, advising customers that the product was not available due to weather conditions. Rather than negotiate a fair price with the farmer, they denied both the farmer and the consumer. Another example is contractors requiring suppliers to pay for the artwork on store branded products, charging each of them as much as $750 for the same artwork, which was designed in house by the supermarket for a fraction of the cost.

I'm pleased that the ACCC plans further examination of the buying power of Coles and Woolworths, but these examples identify the market power imbalance, and the need for an in-depth examination is urgent. But we also need to make sure that we carry a big stick with this, because at the moment we're not. It's quite obvious to me that Coles and Woolworths are laughing at us and are laughing at farmers every step of the way. If that very recent example does not demonstrate that, I don't know what will. I thank the member for this motion, but we absolutely need to do more in this place so we're fairer on farmers and we're fairer on consumers.

Scott Buchholz (Wright, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There being no further speakers, the debate is adjourned and the resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next day of sitting.