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The federal government is doubling down in the fight against price gouging after the ACCC launched a lawsuit against Coles and Woolies.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese today announced he is putting forward new legislation to protect Australian customers against inflated prices, describing the behaviour of supermarket giants as "not good enough".
As the ACCC hauls Woolworths and Coles to court over "illusory" discount campaigns, Albanese said he would now take it a step further with a mandatory code of conduct.
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"My government said it would take action to ensure Australians are not paying one cent more than they should when they go to a supermarket," Albanese said.
"Today we are launching the exposure draft for our new mandatory Food and Grocery Code as well as amendments to legislation we will introduce to parliament later this year."
The PM said the current voluntary code clearly "hasn't been good enough".
As it stands, the Food and Grocery Code of Conduct lays out responsibilities for retailers under a "good faith" system and is completely voluntary under the Competition and Consumer Act.
Fresh legislation would see the likes of Aldi, Coles, Woolworths and Metcash face multi-million dollar penalties for serious breaches of the new mandatory code.
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Albanese commended the watchdog for taking action against the grocery giants.
"When families are doing it tough they need a government on their side," he said.
"They also need a tough consumer cop on the beat, and today the ACCC has alleged Woolworths and Coles temporarily increased the prices of 266 Woolworths products and 245 Coles products for short periods of time, before placing them on Prices Drooped and Down Down promotions.
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"If this is found to be true, it's completely unacceptable. This is not the Australian spirit. Australian customers don't deserve to be treated as fools by supermarkets."
The PM said advertised discounts in Australian supermarkets need to be genuine and specials need to be real.
Albanese said he welcomes the ACCC's lawsuits against Coles and Woolworths and takes the allegations seriously.
The ACCC alleges Woolworths and Coles sold tens of millions of the affected products and derived significant revenue from those "illusory" sales.
The watchdog is seeking declarations, penalties, costs and other orders in court, as well as community service orders that Woolworths and Coles must each fund a registered charity to deliver meals to Australians in need, in addition to their pre-existing charitable meal delivery programs.
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