The ACCC is suing the supermarket giants,alleging their “Prices Dropped” and “Down Down” discounts weren’t really what they seemed.
If the government wants to do better for consumers in a cost-of-living crisis it should talk less and act more and embark on reform of the airline industry that allows competition to flourish.
ACCC chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb is working harder than she ever has in her career,and the results are showing on the scoreboard,with wins including tougher merger laws,and a $120 million penalty against Qantas this past week.
The manufacturer of Glad garbage bags faces potentially millions of dollars in penalties after the consumer and competition watchdog launched legal action over false claims some bags were made partly from recycled ocean plastic.
The chair of the competition and consumer watchdog has put supermarkets,airlines,banks,telcos,ecommerce players and digital platforms on notice.
The ACCC chief says the nation’s corporate merger laws are trailing those in other developed countries,and this is costing consumers.
Why have chief executives been so confident their misdeeds would go undiscovered and unpunished? Because for a long time,it was largely true.
Jim Chalmers has asked Treasury for options to toughen competition laws to protect consumers from big companies with too much market power.
Unused subscriptions cost the average Australian more than $1200 a year,but there’s limited legislation to stop businesses from shady practises.
Even after government subsidies,out-of-pocket costs have risen by 7 per cent for centre-based childcare over the past four years.
Stock countdowns and deliberately confusing website designs are also in the sights of ACCC chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb.