The Greens and the Coalition have become unlikely allies on the issue of creating divestiture powers in the supermarket sector to stop anti-competitive behaviour, no doubt shocking Labor which remains against the idea.
The Coalition on Tuesday declared, if elected, it would back in sector-specific divestiture powers as a “last resort” measure to manage supermarket behaviour and price-gouging.
“Divestiture powers will address serious allegations of land banking, anti-competitive discounting, and unfairly passing costs onto suppliers,” the statement said.
The shock move comes just months after the Greens put forward a similar idea in a bill tabled in the Senate and held a committee on supermarket prices as Australians continue to struggle with the soaring cost of living.
Greens Senator Nick McKim on Tuesday said the Coalition’s support for the powers has created a “moment of choice” for Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
“He can either keep holding hands with Coles and Woolworths, or he can side with Australian shoppers,” Mr McKim said.
“The Greens have long said that a more competitive supermarket sector would mean lower food and grocery prices. It is now only Labor standing in the way.
“Cheaper food and genuine accountability for the anti-competitive behaviour of corporate supermarket giants is now within reach.”
Mr McKim reiterated there was now the numbers needed to pass the laws through the Senate, flagging the Greens were “ready and willing” to work to deliver cheaper food and groceries.
The government appears against the idea, with Treasurer Jim Chalmers telling Sky News Australia the powers could have a number of “unintended consequences”.
“One of the reasons why the last three big reviews of competition policy and the last review of the food and grocery code quite recently was reluctant to go down this path is because of the possible unintended consequences,” he said.
“Forcing supermarkets to sell, do they sell to another big rival, does it mean the closure of stores, does it mean less choice and therefore less competition in local communities?”
Business Council of Australia chief Bran Black also seemed sceptical of the Coalition’s plan, pointing to the findings of a series of independent reviews into competition policy.
“The announced Coalition policy has more guardrails than the Greens policy however experts who have looked at divestiture proposals recently found it would negatively impact consumers and jobs, and that remains our focus,” he said, as reported in the Australian.
However, he did back at the move to make the Food and Grocery Code of Conduct mandatory.
Australia Institute’s Senior Economist Matt Grudnoff also weighed in, saying the introduction of divestiture laws was a “sensible tool”.
“It would be good for prices at the checkout and help keep inflation down,” he said.