Access to Quality Data and Regulatory Settings for Accountability and Competition

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), under Chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb's leadership, is driving transparency and fairness in the food and grocery sector. Key focus areas include tackling monopoly pricing, digital ecosystems, and enforcing regulations against multinational companies. The ACCC is implementing reforms such as merger reform, digital platforms reform, and addressing unfair trading practices to promote competition and support consumers. Chair Cass-Gottlieb stressed the importance of achieving regulatory scale to effectively address these issues. Following a recent hearing, the ACCC's senior leadership team was praised for their engagement, and the Chair appreciated the committee's stimulating discussion. The ACCC will review the hearing transcript and may request corrections. They are also exploring a designation-specific code and service model to align with international regulations, ensuring a more coherent approach. The committee looks forward to ongoing engagement with the ACCC, with plans to follow up on issues like mergers, anticompetitive conduct, and sectoral issues such as petrol pricing and insurance.