Jess Walsh (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

We know that Australians want to get a better deal at the supermarket check-out, and we know that Australians need to get a better deal at the supermarket check-out. We also know that the Competition and Consumer Amendment (Make Price Gouging Illegal) Bill 2024 is unfortunately not going to be the solution that Australians need right now today. The work to address supermarket prices is already underway, and what we're seeing in the chamber this morning is yet another attempt at a symbolic headline grab from the Australian Greens political party, while the Albanese Labor government gets on with the work of holding supermarkets to account and delivering a better deal at the check-out for Australians.

We don't want to see families, pensioners and workers taken for a ride at the supermarket; no-one does. We don't want shoppers paying more than they need to when they head down to Coles or Woolworths to do their family shop every week, so we are delivering the reforms that are needed. We are delivering the changes that Australians need. We are delivering changes that will drive a fairer deal at the checkout. Businesses need to do the right thing by Australians and their consumers, and that includes our big supermarket chains. We need to have the proper scrutiny and the right frameworks in place to make sure our supermarkets are respecting Australians and respecting their customers.

This is exactly what the Albanese Labor government has been focused on: making sure that supermarket chains do the right thing and ensuring that there is greater competition that will put downward pressure on prices. We're focused on offering more choices for Australians, who are dealing with cost-of-living challenges. Our government has provided the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission a $30 million boost to crack down on market conduct, including misleading and deceptive pricing practices from the supermarkets. This is a really significant boost to the work of the ACCC. We are also making the Food and Grocery Code of Conduct mandatory. We are consulting on that right now to make sure that supermarkets do the right thing by everyone—their suppliers and their customers. The legislation to make the Food and Grocery Code of Conduct mandatory will be introduced by the end of the year.

National competition policy is a really important agenda for our government, and that's why we're working with the states and territories to revitalise our competition policy, including issues surrounding planning and zoning. We know that land banking is a significant problem. It has the potential for Coles and Woolworths to be able to freeze out competition, and we know that supermarket competition is absolutely critical in bringing down prices. That's why we're working with the states and territories on competition policy, including taking on these zoning issues that can promote land banking and prevent competition. We're cracking down on shrinkflation. This is such a frustrating practice of the supermarket chains for customers to face, where they are basically charged the same for less. It's a really tricky practice. It's a frustrating practice, where customers—regular people—don't know whether they're getting value for money or whether they're getting ripped off. It has to stop.

We have also banned unfair contract terms, and we've increased penalties for breaches of competition and consumer law. Of course, it will be this government, the Albanese government, that delivers the most significant merger reform in Australia in almost 50 years. That is going to be critical to improving competition not just in our supermarket sector, as we're talking about today, but also across the economy. One of the really important measures that we've put in place is supporting the fantastic work of CHOICE in helping Australians compare the prices across our major supermarket chains. Their quarterly reports have shown that, for a similar basket of goods that people need to buy each week, Aldi is significantly cheaper than Coles and Woolworths today. That information is really important to help customers vote with their feet, find a better deal and promote competition in the supermarket chains. This is giving Australians accurate data on where to get the cheapest groceries.

All of this work, together, is making a difference and will make a difference. It's making sure that supermarkets do the right thing by Australians, that they do the right thing by their consumers. If they don't, there are significant actions that can be taken against them, and we've seen that with action taken by the ACCC just recently. Our consumer regulator commenced proceedings against Coles and Woolworths for alleged breaches of the law, where they were putting the price of something up, just to discount it and slap a 'special' sticker on it weeks later. This is a practice that is, again, tricky and incredibly frustrating for consumers. It's important that the ACCC is taking this action against Coles and Woolworths for their alleged breaches. If wrongdoing is found, there are substantial fines, going into the tens of millions of dollars, and that's because this government increased those fines, increased the penalties available for the ACCC to pursue and for the courts to apply. We want to deter and we want to punish this kind of dodgy behaviour. Change is underway, and we're starting to see this change flow through to consumers. And that change will continue to flow through to consumers.

Obviously, we all want to make sure that price gouging isn't happening, but what this bill does is it proposes pretty significant changes to competition policy in Australia. When we're doing that, we need to do more than manufacture a headline. What we actually need to do is review and consider the changes that are being proposed, and that is exactly what we think should happen with this bill. It needs to be consulted on, it needs to be considered and it is not ready to be passed in its current form. All the changes proposed in this bill need to be properly worked through to make sure that the bill will actually help consumers, who, at the end of the day, we're all here to protect, we're all here to assist in getting a better deal at the supermarket check-out. Unfortunately, this bill is not ready for debate. The work hasn't been done, and there needs to be proper process and proper scrutiny to properly debate this bill. It needs a proper looking into to better understand what the experience has been with these sorts of efforts, including the international experience. Until then, this measure can't be supported.

In the meantime, this government will continue to hold the supermarkets to account. We'll continue to support and fund the important work of the ACCC. We'll provide the extra funding, as we have, to the ACCC to make sure that they can take on supermarket prices, and we'll continue to put the cost of living at No. 1, 2 and 3 on our agenda, because we know these pressures are real for people. Right now, across my home state of Victoria, the first instalment of our $300 energy bill relief is in place, and people are seeing it on their bills. We know that's making an important difference for people. As well, over the past couple of months, every single Australian taxpayer has started to see the results of our tax cuts in their pay packets, which gives them a bit of extra income to help deal with cost-of-living pressures. These measures, amongst so many other measures that we're putting in place, all help, while we're putting downward pressure on inflation, inflation which is now, of course, half the level that it was when we took office just over two years ago.

We on this side of the chamber absolutely want to see the supermarkets held to account. We support the ACCC in doing just that. We've given them extra penalties to pursue. We've given them extra funding. We support the important work of the ACCC. This bill, as it stands, requires more discussion. It requires more review for the measures it seeks to introduce. In the meantime, we'll keep working with the ACCC, we'll keep promoting competition, including in the supermarket sector, and we'll continue to provide the cost-of-living support that Australians need today and into the future.

I move the second reading amendment circulated in my name:

Omit all words after "That", substitute "the bill be referred to the Economics Legislation Committee for inquiry and report by 28 March 2025".