Government Says No to Dismantling Coles and Woolworths

With cost-of-living pressures rising, consumers have been calling for the grip of the two major players to be loosened, but the government has rejected this.

A Woolworths truck is parked outside a Coles Supermarket on May 25, 2015 in Melbourne, Australia. Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images

Assistant Competition Minister Andrew Leigh has ruled out the government breaking up Woolworths and Coles as a way to increase competition in the supermarket sector.

Instead, Mr. Leigh said the government was “really focusing on things that are going to make a direct difference,” such as directing the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) to review prices and competition in the sector, and appointing former Labor minister Craig Emerson to review the effectiveness of the grocery code of conduct, which governs how the supermarket giants treat their suppliers.