Ban on supermarket price gouging

From 1  July residents of the Southern Suburbs will no longer be exploited by big supermarkets and retail chains who inflate prices at the checkout.

Labor has made supermarket price gouging illegal, finally ending this unfair and un-Australian practice.

This is all about getting a fairer go for families in their weekly shop.

The ban will prohibit very large retailers from charging prices that are excessive when compared to the cost of the supply plus a reasonable margin.

These changes give the regulator the powers and the penalties it needs to hold supermarkets to account.

Other steps we’ve taken include:

• Making the Food and Grocery Code mandatory from 1 April 2025
• Increasing the ACCC’s funding by over $30 million to address harmful or misleading conduct in the supermarket and retail sectors
• Consulting on options to strengthen the Unit Pricing Code, including to tackle shrinkflation
• Implementing the ACCC’s recommendations to improve transparency about prices, price trends, promotions and loyalty programs in the sector
• Funding CHOICE to give shoppers more information on supermarket prices
• Investing $50 million to provide access to low‑cost essential products and governance support for remote stores to improve food security in remote First Nations Communities
• Ensuring the ACCC is notified of supermarket sector acquisitions by Coles and Woolworths and can scrutinise land acquisitions under reforms to merger laws
• Making it easier for supermarkets to enter the market and expand with incentives for the states to cut commercial planning and zoning red tape under the revitalised National Competition Policy, backed by our $900 million National Productivity Fund

Whether it’s boosting funding for the regulator, banning price gouging or making the food and grocery code mandatory, we’re doing everything we can to ease pressure on Australians.

One of the best ways to ease the cost of living for Australians is to help people get fairer prices at the checkout and that’s what this is all about.

This is another cost-of-living relief measure the Albanese Government is taking – along with tax cuts for every tax payer, energy bill relief and cheaper medicines.