Greens senator claims supermarket duopoly allows ‘what is effectively collusion’
Greens senator Nick McKim spoke with ABC RN earlier this morning about the long-awaited competition watchdog’s report into the big supermarkets, which says the retailers raised prices in the cost-of-living crisis to help them become among the most profitable in the world.
He noted the ACCC had chosen not to recommend divestiture powers, which the Greens had been calling for, and said:
The fact that the ACCC was just investigating the supermarket sector may be one reason why they didn’t recommend divestiture powers. I do know that the ACCC, quite rightly, were strong proponents of stronger anti-merger laws in Australia which would prevent the further concentration of market power …
What we really need – the final tool in the toolkit for regulators – is now divestiture powers, so that when markets are too concentrated and they are leading to poor outcomes for consumers … that they can be broken up when necessary.
McKim said it wasn’t just consumers being impacted, with “primary producers … being done over by the duopoly simply because they can, because of the concentration of market power”.
I have no doubt that the market dominance of Coles and Woolworths allows them to get away with behaviour that, effectively, is collusion. They unfortunately care about their profits far more than they do about the welfare of their shoppers.
The host noted the ACCC report found no straight evidence of collusion, but did find evidence of strange pricing behaviour. You can read more details of the report below:
Key events
Calls grow for Aldi supermarket to open in Tasmania to improve competition
Independent Tasmanian senator Tammy Tyrrell is doubling down on her call for Aldi to come to the state, amid the long-awaited competition watchdog’s report into the big supermarkets.
She said that Aldi was “crucial to keeping prices down at Woolies and Coles” and that Tasmanians were “suffering” because the “two major supermarkets dominate and we don’t have substantial competition like Aldi.”
Tasmanians deserve better grocery competition and cheaper grocery prices. It’s time we get what every other state has and Aldi comes across the Bass Strait.
Greens senator Nick McKim spoke to ABC RN earlier this morning from Tasmania, and also called for the supermarket to enter the state:
Aldi doesn’t operate in Tasmania, and they should operate in Tasmania, because it would insert a greater competitive force into the supermarket sector down here. And the same could be said for a number of regional areas around the country.
McKim said the current “oligopoly” operates “in an anti-competitive way” and “shuts out competitors who are considering entering a particular region or a particular area, and that is absolutely something we need to address.”
