Final report released by the Senate Select Committee on Supermarket Prices  

9 May 2024

Background

On 6 December 2023, the Senate Select Committee on Supermarket Prices was established to inquire into the price-setting practices and market power of major supermarkets in Australia.  

The final report for the inquiry was published on 7 May 2024, with 14 recommendations to address the issue of market concentration and price gouging.   

Key recommendations include:  

• introducing divestiture powers to reduce the market share of supermarkets, where a supermarket retailer has been found to have misused their market power or engaged in unconscionable conduct  
• prohibiting the charging of excess prices  
• establishing a new Commission on Prices and Competition with appropriate powers of oversight, investigation and referral to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) 
• giving the ACCC new and improved powers to investigate and enforce unfair trading practices and pricing, the Unit Pricing Code, merger reforms, land banking in the supermarket sector and other competition and consumer laws  
• making the Food and Grocery Code of Conduct mandatory, and including the greenlife industry in the code  
• reforms to the Unit Pricing Code to introduce mandatory labelling standards and to help consumers identify and understand ‘shrinkflation’ and promotional material, and  
• strengthening the National Food Waste Strategy. 

The committee also recommended another Senate committee investigate the role of multinational food manufacturers in the industry by February 2025.    

AFGC action 

It is unclear whether or to what extent the government will act on the 14 recommendations in the report. It is important to note that the ACCC inquiry into supermarket pricing and the Food and Grocery Code of Conduct review are still underway.  

The AFGC will work through recommendations with the government as part of continued engagement and we will update members where necessary. 

Contact

For more information contact Shalini Valecha, Associate Director, Industry Affairs, AFGC.