FOLLOWING the release of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s (ACCC) final report of its supermarket inquiry, Nationals Member for Cowper Pat Conaghan said the Coalition has a “strong plan to crack down on major supermarkets and deliver fair prices”.
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The Coalition’s policy includes: $2 million on-the-spot fines for breaches of the grocery code of conduct; increased powers for the ACCC to conduct random audits of major supermarkets; a “Supermarket Commissioner” to act as a confidential avenue for farmers and suppliers; and sector-specific divestiture powers in the hands of the ACCC and the courts to address the behaviour of supermarkets and put an end to instances of price-gouging.
Mr Conaghan said Mid North Coast families and farmers continue to pay the price of government failure to protect them against “profiteering and anti-competitive behaviour” by major supermarkets.
“Coles and Woolworths have been allowed to play unchecked within the market because they are the market,” Mr Conaghan said.
The Federal Government’s “Food and Grocery Code of Conduct” comes into effect on 1 April, which Mr Conaghan says is three years too late.
“We needed the Code back in 2022 to curb this, not next month!” he said.
In a joint statement in December 2024, Assistant Minister for Competition Dr Andrew Leigh MP and Minister for Agriculture Julie Collins MP said the Code will “protect suppliers and farmers and improve supermarket conduct with heavy penalties for breaches”, and includes “new obligations to protect suppliers from retribution and strengthened dispute resolution mechanisms for suppliers”.
The Government is also creating an anonymous supplier and whistle‑blower complaints pathway through the ACCC, and seeking increased penalties for breaches of the code through the Families and Farmers Bill.
Following the passage of the Bill, the maximum penalty for the most harmful breaches of the mandatory code by large grocery retailers or wholesalers will be the greater of $10 million, three times the value of the benefit gained from the contravening conduct, or 10 percent of turnover in the preceding 12 months.