Category Archives: Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC)

Is it really possible to fly ‘carbon neutral’ with Qantas? A greenwashing complaint to the ACCC hopes to find out

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A spokesperson for the airline says it is doing ‘what we can with what’s available now’ after Environmental Defenders Office singles out ‘carbon neutral’ claim

Climate campaigners have asked the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to investigate whether “fly carbon neutral” and other sustainability claims by Qantas are misleading or deceptive.

The greenwashing complaint, filed by the Environmental Defenders Office on behalf of research and advocacy organisation Climate Integrity, urged the competition watchdog to investigate the airline’s marketing materials and the credibility of the company’s transition to net zero.

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Australia news live: Hanson-Young calls for investigation of live music ticketing allegations; culprit flees botched ram raid with arm on fire

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The federal government has announced targeted financial sanctions and travel bans on five Iranian individuals it says is “contributing to Iran’s missile program.”

A statement from the foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, said Iran’s missile program “poses a material threat to regional and international security”, with the 1 October attack on Israel a “dangerous escalation that increased the risk of a wider regional war.”

Australia will continue to hold Iran to account for its reckless and destabilising actions.

We’re holding ministers accountable when the premier of Tasmania refused to. This project – for people who don’t know – is $500m over budget, five years delayed.

It’s a completely debacle. Someone needed to take responsibility. The premier [was] saying he wouldn’t do that, the parliament decided it would act and, at the last moment, the deputy premier resigned.

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Calls for ACCC investigation into live music industry amid warnings artists may be getting ‘ripped off’

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Multinational claims upcoming ABC report into it will likely be ‘inaccurate and unbalanced’ as experts say without intervention smaller venues will struggle to survive

Calls are mounting for the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) to investigate business practices in the live music industry, as the ABC prepares to air a Four Corners report scrutinising the Australian arm of the live entertainment behemoth Live Nation.

The public broadcaster began promoting the Monday night program late last week, alleging monopolistic behaviour and “maximising profits at the expense of both consumers and artists”.

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Mirror-like offering by supermarket giants may be stifling vigorous competition, ACCC report says

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Australian Competition and Consumer Commission uses special information gathering powers to examine ‘concerning’ reports from grocery suppliers

Australia’s major supermarkets provide broadly similar products, prices and loyalty programs in an oligopolistic market that may limit incentives to compete vigorously, the competition regulator has found in its interim report on the sector.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission also said grocery suppliers had raised “concerning” issues – such as being required to pay rebates for promotions to supermarkets – prompting the regulator to use its compulsory information gathering powers to examine the reported behaviour.

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Competition minister ‘concerned’ Australians pay most in world to sell their homes online

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Agents and critics claim business practices and pricing structure of REA Group - which owns realestate.com.au - stifle competition in market

The assistant competition minister, Andrew Leigh, says he is “concerned” Australians are paying the highest costs in the world to advertise their homes for sale online.

After a Guardian Australia investigation into the market power of the Murdoch-controlled REA Group – which owns realestate.com.au – Leigh said he wanted to see costs in the property market come down.

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ACCC sues Coles and Woolworths over allegations of ‘illusory’ discounts on common products

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Competition watchdog alleges supermarkets briefly increased prices on hundreds of products before placing them in discount promotions

The competition regulator is suing Coles and Woolworths over allegations they misled shoppers by engaging in “illusory” discounts on hundreds of common supermarket products.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) claimed on Monday that the major chains derived significant revenue from the sale of tens of millions of products sold through promotions that the regulator says breached consumer law.

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‘Amazonification’ of Australian live music industry hurting artists and crew, inquiry told

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Union tells inquiry consumer watchdog should investigate and accuses Live Nation and competitor TEG of anti-competitive behaviour

Australia’s union for performing artists has accused the world’s largest live entertainment company of anti-competitive behaviour and called for the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to investigate the industry.

US-based multinational Live Nation became the focus of a parliamentary inquiry into the struggling live music sector on Friday, after previous public hearings identified sluggish recovery from Covid-19, rising insurance costs and changing audience habits as the causes behind the cancellation of dozens of music festivals over the past two years.

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Vanessa Hudson has provided a soft landing for Qantas as the airline cuts deal with ACCC

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While the new CEO has stemmed some of the reputational damage of the past, the $120m fine is a clear success for the ACCC

In agreeing to pay a $100m penalty and compensate tens of thousands of customers to the tune of $20m for selling them tickets on already-cancelled flights, Qantas has abandoned its farcical claim that as an airline it doesn’t sell seats on a specific service, but rather a “bundle of rights”.

For new CEO Vanessa Hudson – who stepped into the top job eight months ago after allegations aired in the consumer watchdog’s legal action against Qantas hastened former boss Alan Joyce’s retirement – the landmark settlement is a retreat from her predecessor’s confrontational style that many argued had trashed the airline’s brand.

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Australia’s big supermarkets could face penalties of up to $10m under proposed mandatory code

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Government report stops short of recommending powers to break up big chains saying heavy fines and effective enforcement would be ‘a more credible deterrent’

Australia’s big supermarkets could face hefty fines as part of a federal government plan to make the grocery code of conduct mandatory and give it teeth.

A report ordered by the government – to be released on Monday – warns changes are needed to redress “a heavy imbalance in market power between suppliers and supermarkets in Australia’s heavily concentrated supermarket industry”.

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Australia politics live: Coalition slams Keating for China meeting; RBA tipped to hold rates

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Former PM called ‘reckless’ for accepting talks with foreign minister Wang Yi. Follow the day’s news live

Energy minister Chris Bowen is on a bit of a media blitz this morning.

More renewables are coming on to the grid, which is lowering the default price of energy, but this is Bowen’s main message (he is speaking to ABC radio RN here)

Nuclear is the most expensive form of energy in the world at the moment. There will be a real choice at the next election between the cheapest form of energy and the most expensive.

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Watchdog would get powers to ‘smash’ supermarket duopoly under Greens bill

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The party will table a private senator’s bill this week to enable the ACCC to force Coles and Woolworths to sell off parts of their business

Australia’s competition regulator would gain powers to “smash the supermarket duopoly” and force the breakup of big supermarket chains, under a push from the Greens to be introduced to federal parliament.

The Greens will this week table a private senator’s bill seeking to introduce divestiture powers into Australian competition law. The party’s economic justice spokesperson, Nick McKim, said they will seek support across the parliament for their plan which would allow the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to apply for a court order requiring large companies to divest assets if their market power is unfairly inflating prices or blocking competition.

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Australia news live: former Victorian MP Fiona Patten winds up Reason party and rules out political comeback; police to provide update in Samantha Murphy press conference

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NSW government urged to double social housing by 2050

Homelessness NSW is urging the state government to spend $1bn each year for a decade to double the supply of social housing by 2050.

NSW has failed to invest in social housing for decades. Last year, just one-fifth of people seeking help from homelessness services could find long-term accommodation.

Right now, many of the 57,000 households on the social housing waitlist are forced to wait up to a decade for a safe and stable place to call home.

Underfunded frontline providers are being flooded with calls for help and forced to turn away one in every two people who need accommodation. Services will be unable to keep staff on or their doors open without more funding.

Even for people who get through the door, help is limited. Half of those who need temporary or crisis accommodation cannot access it. That means women and children are forced to return to violent partners, seek shelter in a vehicle, on a couch or the street.

But there has been no improvement in closing the gap on life expectancy, with Indigenous Australian males and females expected to live 8.8 and 8.1 years respectively, less than other Australians.

The target to reduce the number of children in out of home care is not on track, while the target to reduce adult imprisonment is not on track and worsening.

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Competition watchdog to call for power of mandatory disclosure in investigations

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ACCC chief Gina Cass-Gottlieb wants legislaltion changed to enable it to force businesses to give up data without the need for government backing

The competition watchdog should have its powers increased so it can initiate its own inquiries with mandatory disclosure clout, says Gina Cass-Gottlieb, the head of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.

The ACCC can now launch its own investigations, such as a probe into exorbitant foreign exchange transfer fees. However, the agency only has compulsory information collection powers if specifically directed by the government such as for its current probe into supermarket behaviour.

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Coles, Woolworths and Aldi ‘responsibly sourced’ salmon labels may be misleading, watchdog told

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Environmental groups allege some of the supermarkets’ salmon is from Tasmanian farms reportedly having ‘catastrophic’ impact on ancient Maugean skate

Major supermarkets may be misleading consumers that their salmon products are responsibly sourced as some is produced in Tasmanian farms that are “far from sustainable”, environmental groups say.

The Environmental Defenders Office, acting on behalf of four environmental groups, has made a complaint to the consumer watchdog, urging it to investigate whether “responsibly sourced” labelling on seafood products and promotional material used by Coles, Woolworths and Aldi have broken consumer law by misleading consumers.

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Labor accused of ‘dragging feet’ on reinstating program that monitors airlines for potential price-gouging

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Opposition says there’s ‘no excuse’ for further delays on the government reviving the ACCC flight monitoring regime


More than two weeks after announcing it was reviving an airline industry monitoring program, the Albanese government is yet to formally direct the competition watchdog to conduct the investigation.

After months of scrutiny into Qantas’s influence in the government’s decision to block rival Qatar Airways’ push to boost its flights to Australia, the Greens and independent senator David Pocock in October knocked back a proposal to extend a Senate inquiry on the topic.

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Former Qantas CEO Alan Joyce avoids Senate inquiry after push to extend probe knocked back

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Coalition motion to reconvene committee fails after Greens and David Pocock side with government

The former Qantas CEO Alan Joyce will not be forced to appear before a Senate inquiry after a Coalition proposal to extend the probe was knocked back by the Greens and David Pocock.

It comes as the federal government announced on Wednesday that the competition watchdog would recommence quarterly flight monitoring before the end of the year.

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Labor should review decision to block extra Qatar Airways flights to Australia, Senate inquiry says

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Committee seeks more time so it can quiz former Qantas boss Alan Joyce about the Albanese government’s Qatar Airways ruling

The Albanese government should immediately review its decision to block Qatar Airways from launching extra flights to Australia, a Senate inquiry has recommended, as it called for a significantly expanded role and powers for the competition and consumer watchdog in the sector.

The Senate select committee on bilateral air service agreements – set up to examine the rejection of Qatar Airways’ request to almost double its flights into Australia’s major airports – has also recommended its own extension to November so the former Qantas CEO Alan Joyce could front members upon his return to Australia, and so other Qantas representatives who provided “unsatisfactory” responses could be re-quizzed by senators.

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Australia news live: Lidia Thorpe claims Anthony Albanese trying to ‘shut me down’ over voice referendum

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Rain expected to ease over flooded regions in Victoria

The good news is no more rain is expected over flooded regions in Victoria, VicSES deputy chief officer David Baker told ABC News:

The big tap in the sky has been turned off. That’s great news for us. So what we’re dealing with now is what’s currently in the river systems that will need to flush itself through the systems. And we can assess that and we can manage that and put efforts in place to make sure that communities are out of harm’s way. So the good news is no more serious rain expected, and a pretty stable system, I understand, until at least … next week.

We estimate up to 130 properties may be impacted by the event, hence we issued an Emergency warning late yesterday afternoon which was renewed during the early hours of the morning.

It’s mainly homes in that area. Rural homes that may see what we call above floor inundation.

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Head of Australia’s competition watchdog calls for new mandate to police airline industry

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Exclusive: Gina Cass-Gottlieb says ACCC needs greater powers to help new entrants compete with Qantas and Virgin

The head of the competition watchdog has called for a fresh mandate from the Albanese government to monitor the airline industry and help new entrants compete with established players Qantas and Virgin.

The chair of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, Gina Cass-Gottlieb, said the regulator sees “a case” for a mandate to look into competition, prices and industry practices after an earlier direction expired in June.

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‘Real love’ or false advertising? eHarmony sued by ACCC over ‘free dating’ offer

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Watchdog alleges US-based site misled consumers about pricing, renewal and duration of memberships

A popular online dating site has been accused by the consumer watchdog of entrapping singles by only showing them blurred photos of their matches and then locking them in a cycle of membership renewal.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission launched federal court action against the US-based eHarmony on Thursday, alleging it breached consumer law by making misleading statements about pricing, renewal and duration of memberships.

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