Independent Senator Jacqui Lambie says Coles and Woolworths operate like a “cartel” and have “ripped [people] off for years” as the major supermarkets are set to face a senate inquiry over claims of price gouging and profiteering. Coles and Woolworths will face questions from the Senate after the Greens secured support from multiple parties over the weekend to launch an inquiry into supermarket pricing amid a cost of living crisis. The inquiry will investigate claims of price gouging as well as look at how market concentration in Australia’s supermarket duopoly affects food prices and the ways the major chains wield that power in their selling strategies.This comes after both Coles and Woolworths recorded massive profits in August, over $1 billion this year, which is up nearly five per cent on the previous year. Not only have supermarkets increased their profits since the pandemic, but their profit margins have also widened. “I think what I find really shameful … is that we’ve got to run another inquiry to tell us the same thing, when we know very well that if we bulked up the ACCC and gave it more powers they could actually fix this.“Where is the prime minister? Where is he?“The cost of living is absolutely absurd out there, not to mention the farmers, what they’re getting paid for their product and the [increase] between that and [what it is] by the time it gets on to supermarket shelves.”Greens Senator Nick McKim said on Sunday the senate wanted to hear the supermarkets’ CEOs publicly explain their decisions and their profits. "Coles and Woolworths are making billions in profits because they feel that they can overcharge people without repercussions. It needs to end,” he said.“For too long the big supermarkets have had too much market power. This allows them to dictate prices and terms that are hitting people hard.”"This inquiry is a critical step toward dismantling the market concentration that's led to unfair pricing and stifled competition.”“We’ll find a way to dismantle their power and bring grocery prices down.”See more from Australia Today on vice.com and on TikTok.Aleksandra Bliszczyk is the Deputy Editor of VICE Australia. Follow her on Instagram.
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Food inflation peaked at 9.2 per cent peak in December 2022 but has fallen to 4.8 per cent overall for 2023.Speaking to Sky News on Monday, Senator Lambie congratulated the Greens on gathering enough support to launch a new Senate inquiry and said Coles and Woolworths use their market power to operate like a cartel.“They’ve been a cartel for years – I say that because that is exactly what their behaviour is like and nobody is doing anything about it,” she said.This is the second inquiry into food pricing this year, the first was in January, and Lambie also questioned why the ACCC, Australia’s independent consumer watchdog, wasn’t getting the funding to investigate the supermarkets themselves.
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