General News
19 March, 2025
Dyson vows to combat supermarket price gouging
INDEPENDENT candidate for Wannon Alex Dyson has vowed action to tackle grocery-store price gouging, reduce energy bills and address the cost of childcare and seeing a general practitioner.
Mr Dyson made an announcement last week at Coles in central Warrnambool to declare his intent to address the concerns people feel watching the total rise each time they visit the supermarket.
Among the measures he vowed to support was the creation of a new supermarket watchdog, greater powers for the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to investigate and crack down on price gouging and working with whichever party forms government to ensure farmers and suppliers get their fair share.
“If elected, I will work hard to reduce the cost of groceries for all Australians, and ensure farmers and other local suppliers are treated more fairly by big supermarket corporations,” he said.
“The Coles and Woolworths duopoly controls nearly 80 per cent of the grocery sector in Australia, and together they made more than $1 billion in profits in the last financial year.
“This is clearly hurting everyday Australians, farmers, and local suppliers, and it has to stop.
“If elected, I will work with whoever is in government to crack down on price gouging, increase competition in the supermarket sector and I will fight to get a better deal for farmers and suppliers in Wannon, and a better deal for everyone at the checkout.”
Mr Dyson said addressing rising energy costs through grant funding, supporting childcare and reducing out-of-pocket costs for a trip to the doctors would also alleviate financial pressures on families and individuals.
“If elected, I would work to get energy bills under control, including through new Energy Independence Grants for households and businesses,” he said.
“I would fight for a better deal on childcare, including funding for a Childcare Centre of Excellence here at Deakin University in Warrnambool.
“This would mean more young families, particularly young mums, could re-enter the workforce and increase their family income, and get to keep much more of that income due to significantly lower childcare fees.
“I would push whoever is in government to further reduce the cost of seeing a GP, building on the recently-announced measures to increase bulk billing and reduce out-of-pocket expenses.”
Among those supporting measures designed to help address the burden at the checkout is mother Alex Mawson, who said her household budget was consistently under strain due to the rising cost of groceries and higher power bills.
“Families are seeing prices sky rocket in the supermarket and are experiencing difficulties in juggling costs,” she said.
“I know a lot of families like mine are adjusting to a world where everything seems to cost more and more.
“We need to see prices come down.
“Alex is fighting for everyday people like me and my family.
“He will stand up to the big corporations unlike the major parties. Voting the Liberals in again won’t change anything.”
Mr Dyson said cost of living concerns was neck-and-neck with the dire state of roads when it came to the priority concerns he was hearing from residents.
“I’ve covered over 20,000 kilometres on my campaign trail and what I’m hearing consistently is that the cost of living is biting hard on family and household budgets,” he said.
“Just take the price of eggs as an example or a packet of cheese.
“Who would have thought you’d be paying around $10 for a dozen free range eggs, or for a bag of shredded cheese?
“To help with the cost of living, we also need to tackle the many other essential goods and services that have become far too expensive.”
He said independents were leading the way when it came to holding corporations accountable for price gouging,
“In the last Parliament, community independents led the way on getting better regulation for the supermarket industry,” he said.
“Independent Senator for the Australian Capital Territory David Pocock played a huge part in getting the government to create a mandatory food and grocery code of conduct, and in forcing the government to bring forward the start date for the new code.
“Independents will continue to lead this fight in the next Parliament, too.”
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