Peter Dutton negotiated the plan with Nationals leader David Littleproud and shadow treasurer Angus Taylor.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
Labor announcedlast month a new code of conduct and billion-dollar fines for supermarkets accused of price gouging,but the Coalition has taken the crackdown a further step by revealing break-up laws.
“We want cheaper prices at the checkout,and Mr Albanese has yet again demonstrated a complete lack of leadership,a weakness in leadership,an inability to stand up to these companies,and we’re prepared to do that,” Dutton said at a Canberra press conference.
Grocery prices have been prominent in the cost-of-living debate,prompting the Coalition to adopt a contentious interventionist policy opposed by key business lobby groups.
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Long-time Australian Competition and Consumer Commission chair Allan Fels said he and other consumer advocates had been spruiking divestiture laws for decades,marking the Coalition’s announcement as a historic moment and giving credit to the Nationals and Greens for putting it on the political agenda last year.
The laws could act as a major deterrent against anticompetitive conduct,he claimed,and divestiture laws had led to more dynamic and job-creating markets in the United States and other countries with economy-wide rather than sector-specific break-up powers.
“I applaud this step. It will ultimately be seen as a historic move towards the adoption of a discovery law that applies to all big business. This is normal in other countries. Australia is the unusual one,” Fels said.