Albanese says crackdown on supermarkets will stop them from ‘taking the piss’

Anthony Albanese stopped in the Canberra suburb of Downer on Sunday to plug his crackdown on supermarkets “taking the piss” with consumers, and promising to outlaw price-gouging.

The Prime Minister spent the morning of his second full day on the hustings meeting single mum Ren Kerr, her mother Filomena and her children Hawkins, 2, and Teilo, 11, to deliver his latest hip-pocket relief promise to bring down the price of groceries.

Filomena served the nation’s leader a generous spread of cheesecake, shortbread and stuffoli – a desert from her native Italy – but she revealed she cooks and bakes far less frequently now because of price rises.

“The supermarket is out of control,” she said, naming lasagne as more of a household treat than it used to be.

Standing in the family’s garden, the Mr Albanese joked that “my diet for the campaign has gone out the window this morning” before turning to the more serious concern of groceries inflation that has compounded the struggles of Australian households.

“We will make price gouging by Australian supermarkets illegal,” he said, pointing to similar action taken by the European Union and the UK.

If elected, Labor has pledged to form a taskforce to further investigate overseas laws and report back within six months to advise on an “excessive pricing regime” with recommendations on how to move forward.

The Prime Minister on Sunday also committed to adopting the proposals of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s (ACCC)’s inquiry into supermarkets, including recommendations on price transparency, promotions and loyalty programs.

The report, released earlier this month, was inconclusive about whether price gouging was taking place.

Asked directly if the Government’s plans would bring down the price of a weekly shop, Mr Albanese said, “it will definitely have an impact”, referring again to “overseas” experience in putting more pressure on supermarkets.

“To give you a definition, in the EU a price is unfair and excessive if, and to quote their law, it has no reasonable relation in the economic value of the product supply,” he said.

“And quite frankly, I got asked today by someone as well, how do you know what’s price gouging? Price gouging is when supermarkets are taking the piss off Australian consumers.”

Labor’s supermarket pledge is the latest pitch in a cost-of-living package it hopes will convince voters enough to return it to majority Government in a closely fought poll that is still too tight to call.

Mr Albanese said giving Australians “a fair go at the checkout” would build on a foundation of “tax cuts for every taxpayer, energy bill relief, cheaper childcare,” he said.

Finance Minister Katy Gallagher added that the Government was “responding where we can, making sure we get inflation down, creating jobs, getting wages going again. All of that has been part of our focus.”

But the Coalition took an early swipe at the Prime Minister for being afraid to stand up to supermarkets with his “insulting and disingenuous” review.

“You can do more reviews and change laws but unless there is a deterrent and a consequence for doing the wrong thing, then it’s business as usual for our supermarkets,” said Nationals leader David Littleproud.

Mr Littleproud said the Coalition’s own plan would impose tough new penalties with $2m on the spot fines and increased powers for the ACCC to conduct random audits of major supermarkets.

“Australians are hurting now and we can’t afford another three years of a talkfest,” he said.