- In short: The government has confirmed it will impose a mandatory behaviour code on supermarkets, focusing on how they treat their suppliers.
- As recommended by Dr Craig Emerson, fines of up to $10 million would apply to supermarkets who breach their obligations to act in good faith.
- What’s next? The government has asked the ACCC to look into customer prices, but the final report is months away.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
The federal government has confirmed it will impose new obligations on large supermarket chains to treat their suppliers fairly, enforced by hefty fines.
In a move that has been anticipated for several months, the voluntary ‘code of conduct’ the supermarkets wrote themselves a decade ago will now become mandatory with tougher prohibitions against making unreasonable demands or threats to suppliers.
The court-imposed fines are considered the last resort, and Dr Emerson also recommended a new process for suppliers who feel they have been wronged to seek compensation.
In a statement on Sunday night, Treasurer Jim Chalmers and ministerial colleagues said the government would adopt Dr Emerson’s recommendations “in full.”
"The review found that the current voluntary code is failing to address the imbalance of bargaining power between supermarkets and their suppliers, including farmers.
The government has also commissioned quarterly price monitoring reports from consumer advocacy group Choice, the first of which was released last week.
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