Coles and Woolworths Senate inquiry will ‘hold them to account’: Peter McGauran

Bondi Partners Senior Advisor Peter McGauran doesn’t believe anything “new” will come out of the Senate inquiry into Coles and Woolworths, but it will “hold them to account”. Coles and Woolworths are facing a Senate inquiry into their market power and pricing decisions. In response, Coles has reduced meat prices by 20 per cent. “Nothing new will come out of the inquiry that isn’t already known, because, remember, we’ve got the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, which has all the powers in the world, but it’s a good diversion from the government away from the cost-of-living issues,” Mr McGauran told Sky News Australia. “It will morally shame the supermarkets … Coles has already reduced its beef and lamb prices by 20 per cent. “Look, it’s good theatre. I don’t think anything, in a legal sense, will come out of it, but it will hold them to account, the way we like to hold electricity companies and gas suppliers and banks and financial institutions to account. “There might be more transparency possibly, but, again, where’s the ACCC?”