The Hon Andrew Leigh MP
Assistant Minister for Productivity, Competition, Charities and Treasury
TRANSCRIPT
E&OE TRANSCRIPT
DOORSTOP PRESS CONFERENCE
DICKSON SQUARE, ACT
SATURDAY, 27 JUNE 2026
SUBJECTS: Price gouging by Coles and Woolworths illegal from 1 July 2026 under the Albanese Government
ANDREW LEIGH: Well thanks very much for coming this morning. My name is Andrew Leigh, the Assistant Minister for Competition. I’m pleased to announce today that on 1 July 2026, the Albanese Government is cracking down on price gouging by the major supermarkets. We know the two major supermarkets in Australia have a very large share of the market – about two thirds between them, a number that's barely changed in the last couple of decades.
The ACCC’s supermarket report made clear that when you've got significant market concentration, you have the potential for excessive pricing. So what these new laws will do is to say to the two major supermarkets: If you're engaging in excessive pricing, that is pricing that's above the cost of supply plus a reasonable margin, then the ACCC will be empowered to come after you.
This is all about protecting consumers at the checkout. The Albanese Government has had the back of consumers since the beginning. We've implemented the biggest overhaul of Australia's merger laws in our history. We’ve increased penalties more tenfold over the time we've been in office. We cracked down on shrinkflation. We've provided additional resources to the competition watchdog to go after bad behaviour where they see it in the marketplace. We've already seen the competition watchdog bring cases against Coles and Woolworths. The case against Coles was concluded in the ACCC favour earlier this year. This shows we've got a strong regulator out there backing consumers.
While we're backing families to get a fair deal with the checkout, we're also looking after farmers through a mandatory code of conduct. When we came to office, the code of conduct regulated arrangements between supermarkets and farmers was toothless, with no penalties. That's the way the Liberals and Nationals had set it up. We changed that, putting in place multi-million dollar penalties for supermarkets that did the wrong thing by suppliers. So the Albanese Government is making sure that families get a fair deal at the checkout and farmers get a fair deal in terms of what they're supplying to the supermarkets. Very happy to take questions.
JOURNALIST: What to you is a reasonable margin when you're talking about price gouging?
ANDREW LEIGH: Well that will be a matter for the ACCC. We're following the ways in which these law are constructed in the European Union; the UK. We deliberately haven't put numbers around this. To do that would risk the system being gamed and a worse deal for consumers. But the supermarkets will be able to change a reasonable margin on top of the cost of supply. The ACCC is devoting significant resources to monitoring these new rules.
JOURNALIST: There's consumer experts that say enforcing this will be quite difficult, and will be quite difficult to prove that something's price gouging versus just trying to make ends meet when it comes to pricing. What's your counter and response to that?
ANDREW LEIGH: The ACCC is one of the most respected regulators, not just here in Australia, but around the world. It's shown its capability to go after misconduct by large firms and to use big data in following up its analysis. The ACCC has better resources and better data than they've ever had before. We're confident that these new powers will be appropriately enforced by the competition watchdog.
JOURNALIST: What are the penalties for Coles and Woolies if they do find that they are price gouging?
ANDREW LEIGH: The maximum penalty is $10 million; three times the benefit gained from the breach; or 10% of turnover if that can't be determined. So these are very significant penalties that accompany it. Clearly, what the government wants is that the supermarkets do the right thing. We don't want to see the supermarkets doing the wrong thing and an action being taken. We'd rather see this have a clear deterrent action that we intend it to.
JOURNALIST: We're seeing with changing technologies – Woolies, it's got its digital price tags which means prices can be changed more frequently, and we're probably going to see more technology like that. What's the government looking into in terms of that space, and how it can crack down on these technologies as they evolve?
ANDREW LEIGH: So, our unit pricing inquiry went clearly to the issue of shrinkflation and to making sure that that unit pricing on the shelf is accurate. That holds not just for the two majors but for other supermarket players. It's important that consumers have access to timely information as they do their shop. And we're also making sure that for consumers who are shopping online, they have access to good comparison data. We will be ensuring, as we work with the major supermarkets, that the information is there. We're confident that the regulators have the appropriate powers at the moment. If there are additional powers they need, they only need to come to us. No government's been more passionate about consumer and competition reform than ours.
JOURNALIST: What would your message be to the big two supermarkets? Obviously, you know, it's coming up 1 July. What would you say if they're thinking about trying to get away with it?
ANDREW LEIGH: Well, to Coles and Woolies, I'd say do the right thing by consumers. People are doing it tough, working hard to make ends meet. The Albanese Government's been backing wage rises. We're delivering tax cuts, as we did with the legislation that passed through the Parliament this week. We want that money to go further and part of that is ensuring that our two big supermarkets – who between them, hold two thirds of the market, do the right thing by consumers.
JOURNALIST: Are you hoping actions like this will resonate with voters who feel that everything's just gotten more expensive, and they're looking to One Nation as a solution for that?
ANDREW LEIGH: I think voters know the Albanese Government's very serious about cracking down on misconduct by big players in the market. We've shown that in resourcing, in increasing the penalties, increasing the quality of the laws that we have the back of consumers.
We understand that subscription traps and drip pricing are no longer acceptable, which is why we've got legislation in the Parliament to crack down on them too. And for the grievance parties in Australian politics – the three big right-wing grievance parties – I'd say, what are your ideas? I haven't seen a single idea from One Nation or the Liberals and the Nationals that would actually make things better for consumers. It's only Labor that's making the running on the most important area of policy. The right-wing grievance parties are stirring up anger and discontent, but they're failing when it comes to coming up with practical solutions that will make people's lives better.
No other questions? Thanks very much.
ENDS