Craig Emerson to lead grocery code review

The news: Economist and former Labor politician Craig Emerson will lead a review into the Food and Grocery Code of Conduct, as the federal government calls on supermarkets to pass easing prices onto consumers.

The review could lead to a shift from industry-led codes to government-mandated requirements and complaints handling, along with strengthened consumer rights in highly consolidated markets, the Albanese government said in a statement.

The context: Labor has been under-fire from the opposition for not doing enough on the cost of living, an issue weighing on voters facing more than a year of rising interest rates and price growth. A spike in global inflation, seeded by pandemic-era stimulus spending and the war in Ukraine, has been exacerbated in Australia by corporate price-gouging through over-indexed price hikes, the Reserve Bank noted in 2023.

What they said: “We have been clear — if the price for meat and fruit and vegetables is going down at the farm gate then families should be seeing cheaper prices on supermarket shelves too," Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said in a statement. "If there are further steps that are needed then the government will not hesitate to take action."