Panel’s appointment comes as Woolworths reports rise in net annual earnings to $1.6bn, a day after Coles posts $1.1bn profit
The Albanese government will appoint a taskforce to provide a rolling competition review in a bid to lower cost-of-living pressures by creating a more productive and dynamic economy.
The taskforce, set up in Treasury, will include an expert panel including Danielle Wood, chief executive of the Grattan Institute, and Rod Sims, former chair of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission . It will engage in “targeted public consultation” and provide continuous advice over the coming two years.“A key focus of this competition review [is] to put downward pressure on the cost of living,” the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, told a media conference in Sydney on Wednesday.
“Some of the issues which were bedevilling the retail sector around shipping and other input costs have come off quite considerably in the last six or nine months,” he said. “And we want to see those passed on to consumers, to Australians more broadly, when that happens.” Andrew Leigh, the assistant minister for competition, charities and treasury, said the economy had arguably become less competitive over time, with fewer new companies starting up and a drop of the share of people changing jobs.
“Over the last couple of decades, we’ve seen a rise in market concentration, we’ve seen an increase in margins – the gap between cost and prices,” Leigh said. “All of this suggests the
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