Already a subscriber?Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has accused Coles and Woolworths of stifling competition by sitting on undeveloped land near their stores and vowed measures to protect consumers from higher prices.if they abuse their market power and Mr Dutton said the Morrison government had brought down power bills via “big stick” laws that threatened to break up electricity retailers, signalling a similar approach may be possible for supermarkets.
“I think there’s a question mark about the appropriateness of that behaviour. Ultimately, we’ve got consumers that are paying through the roof at the moment for items when they turn up to a checkout.” “As our parents always taught us growing up, it’s about location, location, location,” Mr Harrison said.
A Woolworths spokesman said it made good business sense for the company to build new stores, distribution centres and other facilities to serve customers.