Business Council Warns About Greens’ Bill to Break up Supermarket Giants

The push to break up the supermarket duopoly could end up forcing customers to pay more and give “extreme power” to the government, a peak business body has warned. It comes after the left-wing Greens proposed a divestiture power bill that would allow the Australian consumer watchdog, and the courts, to make Coles and Woolworths sell their assets if they are found to be uncompetitive. The Greens accused the supermarket behemoths of “ruthlessly using their market power to gouge prices while raking in billions of dollars in profits” amidst a cost-of-living crisis. If the bill passes the Senate on March 27, it would give the courts and competition regulators the power to “smash the supermarket duopoly” and “help rein them in,” the Greens argued....