Coles and Woolies are being banned from price-gouging. No one knows what exactly that means

June 26, 2026 — 5:25am

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Amid a cost-of-living crisis and a period of widespread dissatisfaction with Coles and Woolworths late last year, Treasurer Jim Chalmers declared the government would take a big stick to the big supermarkets.

“We’re cracking down on supermarket price gouging to help Australians get a better deal at the checkout,” he said.

On July 1, words will be turned into action. Australia will be the first country in the world to bring in a ban on supermarket price-gouging. But just don’t expect the national consumer watchdog to find many examples of it.

There are a few things we know about the ban, and much more we don’t. What is clear is the new prohibition is custom-made to target Coles and Woolies: they are the only supermarkets that qualify as “very large retailers”, with over $30 billion in revenue.

The other two main supermarkets don’t even come close: Aldi’s revenue in 2025 was $13.9 billion, and IGA operator Metcash’s food business brought in $10.5 billion in fiscal 2026.

Then there’s determining what price gouging, or “excessive pricing” as per the new rules, actually means. According to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, it applies when items are sold for an amount that “is significantly excessive when compared to the cost to the very large retailer of the supply, plus a reasonable margin”.

So what exactly is significantly excessive? The answer, frustratingly, appears to be: it depends.

“Significantly excessive” is not defined by the legislation or the ACCC;........

© The Sydney Morning Herald