Andrew Leigh

The Albanese Government is taking action to fight shrinkflation in our supermarkets and retail sector by strengthening the Unit Pricing Code to make it easier for Australians to make accurate and timely price comparisons.

The Government will also introduce substantial penalties for supermarkets who do the wrong thing and breach the Unit Pricing Code.

The practice of 'shrinkflation' is becoming increasingly common, where the size of a product is reduced, but the price at the supermarket is the same or even increases, taking advantage of Australians doing their groceries.

Address to the UK Evaluation Task Force - London

In mid-1998, a year after the election of the Blair Government, I decided that I’d hop on a plane and see it up close. I’d just finished up an intense year as a judge’s associate, working for Justice Michael Kirby on the High Court of Australia, and wanted a break. In Australia, John Howard had just begun what would become the second-longest Prime Ministership in Australian history. Tony Blair’s election was pretty exciting for a young Labo(u)r supporter.

Before leaving Australia, I sent about fifty faxes off to different Labour MPs, asking if they had any work for someone whose enthusiasm greatly exceeded my knowledge of British political institutions. Half a dozen MPs politely agreed to have a cup of tea with me, and I picked up some part-time work with two: Fiona Mactaggart and Ross Cranston.

I attempted to fill in the gaps in my knowledge of British politics, reading the hard-bitten works of Philip Gould and Peter Mandelson, the political philosophy of Anthony Giddens and the tales of John O’Farrell, summed up in Things Can Only Get Better: Eighteen Miserable Years in the Life of a Labour Supporter. For much of the time, I lived in a share house in Kennington, and often walked to work, crossing the Thames at Westminster Bridge, photobombing a tourist photo in front of Oliver Cromwell’s statue, and arriving at work at the ironically named Palace of Westminster. I only spent four months here, but went home impressed.

Address to Oxford University, England

Thank you to each of you – randomistas and non-randomistas alike – for taking the time to join us today. I am grateful to my friend and co-author, the prodigiously productive Philip Clarke for making today’s talk happen, and to our four institutional hosts: Oxford Population Health’s REAL Supply and Demand Units, the Oxford Health Economics Research Centre, and the Oxford Centre for Health Economics.

This is the first talk I’ve given at Oxford since the passing of my extraordinary co-author Tony Atkinson on New Year’s Day 2017. Alongside many of you at Nuffield and the broader Oxford community, I was one of those whose work was shaped by Tony’s ideas and ideals. His smiling photo hangs on the wall behind my desk – a reminder that the best academics aren’t just brilliant and brave, but gentle and generous too.

Let’s start with a story.

Today, I will travel to the United Kingdom to discuss rigorous policy evaluation with experts and policymakers.

Rigorous policy evaluation is an important tool for creating opportunity and addressing inequality. The meetings will be a valuable chance to exchange ideas with a jurisdiction that has been a leader in the field of evidence-based policymaking.

SUBJECTS: Food and Grocery Code, CHOICE report, Supermarket Competition

MURRAY JONES (HOST): The Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and Treasury, Assistant Minister for Employment as well, Dr Andrew Leigh, joins me this morning. Good morning, Andrew. How are you?

ANDREW LEIGH: Very well, Murray, great to be with you.

JONES: Nice to talk to you. Let's talk a little bit more about some of the concerns that have come out, obviously, when it comes to the cost of living, the cost for consumers and them feeling like they've been misled by some of the biggest players when it comes to supermarkets. But they're also very aware of the impact on the employees and the impact on some of the suppliers as well, particularly when it comes to some of the contracting arrangements. Let's talk about some of the issues that have come out in the short term, particularly in relation to people getting screwed all over, except for the main players, the shareholders, it seems.

LEIGH: Yeah, I mean, the ACCC report is a really important one. It's the first deep dive into the supermarket sector that the competition watchdog has done in 16 years. It attracted more responses to its survey than any other report that the competition watchdog has done. It raises issues around the market power of the large suppliers, around the transparency of prices. It makes clear that the two majors have 67% of the market, a very high market share and higher than in many other countries. And also notes that over the last five years, food and grocery prices have risen faster than prices on average in the economy.

SATURDAY 28 SEPTEMBER 2024

SUBJECTS: Food and Grocery Code, Negative Gearing, National Competition Policy, Divestiture, Multinational Tax Reform, Census

KAREN MIDDLETON (HOST): Hi, I'm Karen Middleton, Guardian Australia's Political Editor coming to you from the lands of the Ngunnawal and Ngambri peoples.

Today on Australian politics I'm speaking with Andrew Leigh, Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and Employment. We're talking supermarket prices and how the system is allowing Coles and Woolworths to flourish at the expense of competitors, and sometimes also the rest of us.

We'll look at the case for more transparency in their practices and what's causing higher prices and limiting options for shopping around.

We'll also talk about housing and why we can't seem to discuss negative gearing, and because he also oversees the Census, I'll ask about that controversy over questions and what happened.

Andrew Leigh, thanks for joining us.

ANDREW LEIGH: Such a pleasure, Karen, thank you.

SUBJECTS: ACCC Report, CHOICE Report, Food and Grocery Code, Divestiture, National Competition Policy, AFL Grandfinal

ROSS SOLLY: Earlier this week, Andrew Leigh and I stood cheek by jowl expressing our Oreo outrage when we discussed that Oreos were leading the charge in terms of items that were being bumped up to ridiculous price levels by supermarkets as part of their campaign. Now, today, Andrew Leigh, the Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and Treasury, released an interim report from the ACCC into the supermarkets. And look, it basically confirmed everything that we might have already known. Andrew Leigh joins us on the program. Good to have you on the show, Andrew Leigh.

ANDREW LEIGH: Thanks, Ross, great to be back with you. Now, I was in a supermarket this afternoon and I saw Oreos that were half price. I nearly picked you up a pack.

SOLLY: Isn't that amazing? Andrew Leigh, who says that the radio has no power anymore.

LEIGH: Exactly. I think the Canberra supermarkets are listening.

SUBJECTS: ACCC Report, CHOICE Report, Merger Reform, National Competition Policy, Food and Grocery Code, Negative Gearing

GARY ADSHEAD (HOST): Dr Andrew Leigh, Assistant Minister for Competition, joins me on the line now. Thanks very much for your time, Andrew.

ANDREW LEIGH: Pleasure Gary, great to be with you.

ADSHEAD: All right, I said it. They've been in under the gun. I mean, we now know that the ACCC are considering Coles and Woolworths to be part of an oligopoly. Can you tell us why that shouldn't be of concern?

LEIGH: Well, we do have a very concentrated supermarket sector, Gary. The report finds that 67% of the market's controlled by Coles and Woolies, with ALDI having another 9%. That's more concentrated than many other in the world, which is why our supermarkets deserve an extra level of scrutiny from other sectors in the economy.

SUBJECTS: ACCC Report, CHOICE report, Divestiture, Supermarket Competition, Cost of Living, Food and Grocery Code, Inflation, Gambling Ads

ANDREW LEIGH: Thanks very much everyone for coming along today. My name's Andrew Leigh, Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities, Treasury and Employment.

The Albanese Government wants to see a fair deal for families and a fair deal for farmers. That's why we're doing all we can to ensure that the supermarket sector is held to account. Today, I'm pleased to be releasing the ACCC's interim supermarkets report. This is the first deep dive into the supermarkets that the competition watchdog has done in 16 years. The report received some 80 submissions and the public survey that was opened received over 20,000 responses from the Australian public. That's the biggest response to any survey that the ACCC has ever done, and it reflects the very strong concern among Australians about supermarket pricing and about farmers getting a fair deal.

The Albanese Labor Government is committed to ensuring Australians are paying a fair price for their groceries and our farmers are getting a fair price for their hard work, with the Government today releasing the ACCC’s Supermarkets Inquiry Interim Report.

When families are doing it tough, they need a Government that's on their side and a tough consumer cop on the beat – and that’s the important role the ACCC is playing.

In January, the Albanese Government tasked the ACCC to look into supermarkets, and today the Government has released the ACCC’s Supermarkets Inquiry Interim Report, which explores in detail issues including concentration and competition in the sector, rising prices and shrinkflation, supermarket buyer power and other consumer and producer concerns.