Did not passBusiness & Trade Introduced in the Senate, 16 Sep 2024 by MCKIM, Sen Nick

Senate rejected McKim's price gouging ban twice

Senator Nick McKim wanted to stop companies with a lot of market power from charging far too much. Fines would be $50 million or more. The Senate voted it down in October 2024 and again in February 2026.

Official name: Competition and Consumer Amendment (Make Price Gouging Illegal) Bill 2024

Who it affects

• Shoppers and households: Big companies would have been banned from charging prices far above what a market with real rivals would allow.
• Large companies that lead a market: They could have been taken to court and fined heavily if a court found their prices far too high.
• Small businesses that sell under $10 million a year: The new ban would not have covered them.
• The competition and consumer watchdog: It would have had a new rule to police. It could ask a court to punish price gouging.

No rule against price gouging

Price gouging is when a company charges far more than a fair price because buyers have little choice. Australia's main law on competition is the Competition and Consumer Act 2010. It has no rule that bans price gouging.

Senator Nick McKim brought this bill into the Senate, the upper house of Parliament, on 16 September 2024. It was a private bill. That means he was not speaking for the government.

His notes on the bill name several experts. They name Michele Bullock, the head of the Reserve Bank. They name the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and the International Monetary Fund. Both are world economic groups. They also name central banks in other countries. These are the banks that set a country's interest rates. The notes say all of them agree some companies used rising prices across the economy as cover to push up their own prices. They say rent, food, power and home loans have gone up faster than wages.

The senator points to big profits in the 2023-24 financial year. He says Origin, an energy company, made $1.2 billion. He says Coles made $1.1 billion. He says the Commonwealth Bank made $9.48 billion.

The bill is based on two reports from 2024. One was an investigation for the Australian Council of Trade Unions, the national group of unions. Professor Allan Fels led it. He used to run the competition and consumer watchdog. The other report came from a group of senators who looked at supermarket prices. The Greens party set up that group. Senator McKim led it.

Ban on excessive prices

The bill would have added a new rule to section 46 of the Act. Section 46 already deals with big companies misusing their market power.

Some companies have "a substantial degree of power in a market". Under the bill, they could not do anything that leads to a price that is far too high. It would also cover things likely to lead to one. That means selling or buying at that price, offering it, or signing a deal at it.

To decide if a price is far too high, a court would compare it with the "competitive price". That is the price the buyer would have paid if the company did not have so much market power.

The bill did not define "excessive" on purpose. This lets courts judge each industry on its facts. The senator suggests courts look at the price compared with cost. He says they should also look at what the product is really worth.

He also suggests they ask one more thing. Did a company use a shortage or a rush of buyers to lift prices by more than its costs went up?

Say one company controls most of the supply of a medicine. It triples the price, but its costs have not gone up. Under this bill, a court could find that price far too high.

Who would not be covered

The ban would not apply where a federal, state or territory law sets or allows the price. A company could not be punished for charging a price the law allows.

It would not apply to some smaller companies. That is where the company's sales, added to the sales of linked companies, were under $10 million in its last income year.

The senator says small businesses are unlikely to have that much market power anyway. He says the aim is to stop huge companies from price gouging.

Penalties and enforcement

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission is the watchdog that polices competition and consumer law. It could take a company to court for breaking the rule.

The court could order a fine or payment for harm. It could ban some actions. It could make a formal finding that the law was broken.

The top fine for each breach would be the largest of three amounts. One is $50 million. Another is three times what the company gained. The third is 30% of its sales during the breach, if the gain cannot be worked out.

The watchdog could also make a company sign a binding promise that a court can enforce. The senator says this could force a company to cut its price to the fair level for a set time. The company would also have to keep up supply.

He points to Europe, which has banned price gouging since 1958. In 2020 the European Commission, which runs the day-to-day work of the European Union, ordered drug company Aspen to cut the price of cancer medicines by 73% for ten years.

Planned start

The bill would have started on a day set by the government. If no day was set within four months of it becoming law, it would start by itself after that. A bill becomes law when the Governor-General signs it. The Governor-General stands in for the King.

The ban would only cover actions after the start date.

Voted down in the Senate

The Senate debated the bill on 9 October 2024. That day it voted against the main idea of the bill.

The bill was later put back on the Senate's to-do list on 26 August 2025.

The Senate debated it again on 5 February 2026. It voted against the main idea a second time. It will not become law in this form.

How they voted

Its journey through Parliament

Official sources

• Bill page on aph.gov.au
• Text of the bill
• Explanatory memorandum

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