SENATOR DEAN SMITH
SHADOW ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR COMPETITION, CHARITIES AND TREASURY
SENATOR FOR WESTERN AUSTRALIA
MEDIA RELEASE
27 November 2024
LABOR LEAVES SUPERMARKET SHOPPERS EXPOSED THIS CHRISTMAS
After dragging its feet for months, Labor has finally introduced legislation aimed at tackling poor behaviour and boosting competition in the supermarket sector – but has again confirmed it won’t have anything in place until April 2025.
The bill, introduced today, actions some recommendations of the June 2024 Emerson Report.
In the five wasted months since, the Albanese Government has denied Australian shoppers the improved choice, cheaper prices and consumer protections they desperately need.
Now, with Labor’s cost of living crisis raging and Christmas only weeks away, those seeking relief at the checkout will have to wait another six months.
Finance Minister Senator Katy Gallagher confirmed in yesterday’s Question Time that “the regulations to make the new mandatory Food and Grocery Code of Conduct will be made this year, with the code coming into force from 1 April 2025.”
Under the bill, supermarkets will be penalised for breaching the Food and Grocery Code of Conduct and the ACCC will be given additional powers including the ability to issue infringement notices.
It also aims to crack down on shrinkflation by strengthening the Unit Pricing Code.
Labor’s delays come as no surprise given its slow progress on all competition matters – including other recommendations of the Emerson Review, the ACCC Supermarkets Inquiry, and Merger Reforms.
None are slated to be finalised or implemented until mid-2025.
It ignores the fact that the timeline for these reforms is as important as their substance, because Australians need cheaper prices now.
That is why the Coalition has a decisive and targeted plan to deliver the more competitive supermarket sector consumers deserve, and all the benefits that come with that.
This includes tougher civil penalties for supermarkets engaging in anti-competitive activities, a Supermarket Commissioner to act as an impartial confidential avenue for farmers and suppliers and divestiture powers with appropriate safeguards to be used as a last resort.
Australians deserve a government that treats this with the seriousness, and urgency, it deserves – and that will only happen under Peter Dutton and the Coalition.
Quotes attributable to Senator Dean Smith:
“Whilst supermarket sector reforms are welcome, Labor’s go slow approach means they have not been place to assist Australian shoppers when they needed them most.”
“This is a common thread with the Albanese Government on competition policy – too little, too late.”
“The delays are proof of Labor’s wrong priorities and failure to progress policies that will ease cost of living pressures, and consumers paying higher prices at the till this Christmas have every right to be angry about it.
ENDS