The price of 30 basic essentials such as bread, milk and nappies would be capped, with increases tied to wages, under a new policy to be announced by the Queensland Greens on Wednesday.
The party will also lay out a plan to break up the Coles and Woolworths “duopoly” by requiring the companies to sell supermarkets if they own more than 20% of the market.
Amy MacMahon, a South Brisbane MP, said several European governments are “taking direct action to lower the cost of food; there’s no reason why we can’t do it here in Queensland”.
Hungary’s prime minister, Victor Orban, was one of many leaders in eastern Europe to impose a cap on some goods last year, though the policy will be dropped next month. Nations such as France have implemented similar policies and even the UK’s former Conservative government considered “voluntary” controls before backing down amid industry opposition.
“Coles and Woolies have some of the highest profit margins in the developed world,” MacMahon said.
“Bringing down the cost of groceries is going to take a lot more than another inquiry. The government can and should directly intervene by capping grocery prices to bring down the cost of Queenslanders’ groceries.”
The Queensland Greens’ policy would be regulated by what the party calls a “fair prices authority”, a beefed-up version of the Queensland Competition Authority. Prices would be capped at January 2024 levels, only increasing by the amount wages do.
Not everything at the supermarket would be capped, however. Grocery stores would be required to offer at least one product in each of the 30 categories of essentials, such as one brand and volume of milk or nappies.
The party also has not set out a specific list of 30 products it thinks should be captured under the policy. The final list would be determined by the authority. But it said price caps would not apply to fresh produce, given seasonal price fluctuation.
The authority would also be responsible for implementing new laws proposed by the party which would allow the state government to require any supermarket firm with more than 20% market share in one of seven regions to sell stores.
after newsletter promotion
The Greens’ candidate for the seat of Cooper, Katinka Winston-Allom, said the Milton IGA, which was closed after it was bought by Coles earlier this year, was evidence that the government wasn’t doing enough to combat anti-competitive “land banking” by the major supermarkets.
“Coles and Woolies have so much power because we have the most highly concentrated supermarket sector in the world. Smashing up the duopoly would bring prices down,” she said.
A inquiry into grocery price gouging called earlier this year by the Labor state government recommended making the food and grocery code of conduct mandatory.
It is not the first time the Greens have turned to price controls. MacMahon has repeatedly introduced legislation to cap rents, amid record-high increases in Brisbane, without success.