The Coalition and Greens are renewing calls for Labor to embrace powers to forcibly break up supermarket chains such as Coles and Woolworths despite the competition watchdog shunning the idea in its review of the sector.
The shadow treasurer, Angus Taylor, challenged the government to allow supermarket competition laws – which include divestiture as a “last resort” – to be debated and passed when parliament returns next week for the pre-election budget.
But the government continues to resist the big-stick legislation, with the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, adamant the “risks outweigh the benefits”.
The political row over supermarkets reignited on Friday after the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) published its final report into the sector.
The 441-page report described Coles, Woolworths and Aldi as among the most profitable grocers in the world, finding their margins had risen during a five-year period in which shoppers were struggling through a cost-of-living crisis.
Acknowledging there was no “silver bullet” fix, the ACCC made 20 recommendations, including to force the chains to publish all prices on their websites and allow online comparison tools to access the data to inform shoppers.
But it did not recommend divestiture powers, laws that could force Coles or Woolworths to sell off stores as punishment for price gouging.
The Coalition and the Greens were undeterred, forming a unity ticket to again call for the intervention, with Taylor saying it was “just wrong” that supermarkets weren’t subject to “serious competition regulation”.
The Greens economic justice spokesperson, Nick McKim, said the ACCC’s findings justified divestiture powers.
“Without laws to force more competition and make price gouging illegal, the supermarket duopoly will keep driving up grocery prices while raking in billions of dollars in profits,” he said.
But Chalmers said divestiture was not the answer, arguing, as an example, that if one chain was forced to sell a store it might just be bought by another big player.
“It’s got hairs all over it, frankly. That’s why it’s not recommended on any one of the 441 pages of this report,” he told ABC TV.
Labor has accepted the report’s 20 recommendations in principle.
The treasurer and the assistant minister for competition, Andrew Leigh, said the government was taking “very significant steps” to crack down on supermarkets, which included its new food and grocery code and extra funding to the ACCC to police misleading pricing tactics.
Woolworths released a statement to shareholders on Friday morning saying it acknowledged the report and would “carefully consider” its findings and recommendations.
In the statement, Woolworths said it had “already taken action” on many of the ACCC’s interim recommendations such as having “simplified” promotional programs and making specials clearer through improved ticketing.
The Woolworths Group chief executive officer, Amanda Bardwell, said the company welcomed recommendations that improved transparency for customers “where they don’t have unintended consequences or increase costs”.
“Our experience, in store and online, is that the Australian grocery sector is very competitive,” she said.
In its response to the ACCC report, Coles also emphasised its claim that the Australian supermarket sector “is highly competitive”.
“Coles welcomes any recommendations that improve transparency for suppliers and customers but cautions against measures that will increase red tape and drive up costs,” the supermarket said. “We will review all of the recommendations in detail.”
The Choice chief executive officer, Ashley de Silva, said “ The ACCC’s report confirms this is a highly concentrated market, with the major supermarkets appearing to be among the most profitable in the world during a cost of living crisis”.
