ACCC Chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb has stressed the positive impacts of a competitive economy for consumers as she outlined the agency's priorities for the 2025-26 financial year.
Speaking at a Committee for Economic Development of Australia event in Sydney today, Ms Cass-Gottlieb outlined the agency's annual compliance and enforcement priorities which include working decisively on consumer protection, promoting competitive markets, and clear and accurate pricing information for products and essential services.
"The ACCC's complementary mandates support the community to participate with trust and confidence in commercial life and promote the proper functioning of Australian markets. We will continue to pursue our priorities through strong enforcement action, education to foster compliance, and advocacy for reform," Ms Cass-Gottlieb said.
"Consumers are still doing it tough, and the cost of groceries and essential services have contributed to significant cost of living stress."
"We will continue to work hard to protect consumers by using the full range of our tools and powers to enhance competition and fair trading, through tough and rigorous enforcement as well as targeted compliance and education initiatives."
Cost of living and competition issues in groceries, retail and essential services
Ms Cass-Gottlieb said the ACCC would conduct dedicated investigations and enforcement activities to address competition and consumer concerns in the supermarket and retail sector in the year ahead.
One priority will be to address consumer and fair trading concerns, with a focus on misleading pricing practices including around surcharging.
Another priority to address competition concerns in the supermarket and retail sector will focus on firms with market power and conduct that impacts small business or contributes to higher prices for consumers.
"Our work will also address the potential imbalance of power more broadly between larger businesses that impose standard form contracts on one hand, and small businesses and consumers on the other as reflected in our priority on unfair contract terms in consumer and small business contracts," Ms Cass-Gottlieb said.
Market concentration is a growing challenge across the Australian economy, not just in supermarkets and retail, but also in aviation, digital platforms, and many of our essential services.
Australian consumers and small businesses are likely to feel the impact of any anti-competitive conduct in essential services on price, choice and quality of services. Therefore, in 2025 to 2026, the ACCC will continue to prioritise promoting competition in essential services with a focus on telecommunications, electricity, and gas.
In addition to these cost of living measures, the ACCC will add a new priority, to address misleading surcharging practices and other add-on costs.
"We have previously taken enforcement action against merchant surcharging that exceeds the cost of card acceptance. In the year ahead, our work will focus on increasing business compliance with the excessive card payment surcharging prohibition, and improving pricing practices to ensure all add on costs are appropriately disclosed," Ms Cass-Gottlieb said.
Competition and merger reform contribute to a dynamic economy and lower prices
"Greater competition in markets fuels economic dynamism and growth. This is the key principle on which Australia's competition policy, and the ACCC's role in enforcing it, rests."
"That's why we use our tools in competition policy and consumer fair trading to achieve the best outcomes," Ms Cass-Gottlieb said.
"When markets are not workably competitive, Australian customers, whether consumers or businesses, pay the price. When businesses compete with each other to meet consumer needs, they are incentivised to innovate and improve, to offer greater choice, lower prices and better quality products and services that deliver value for the money consumers choose to spend."
"Competition promotes higher growth rates, higher household incomes and a strong Australian economy. And competition contributes to a better standard of living and a better way of life."
Therefore, one of the enduring ACCC priorities is to address anti-competitive agreements and practices, misuse of market power and cartel conduct so that competition may be fostered at all levels of the supply chain.
After the passing of new merger legislation, voluntary notification of mergers will begin from 1 July 2025, ahead of the new regime coming into effect from 1 January 2026.
"We acknowledge the challenges navigating this period and are committed to working with the community during the transition," Ms Cass-Gottlieb said.
"Successfully and efficiently implementing the reform to the merger regime, promoting compliance with the new regime, and taking enforcement action, where necessary, will be a significant focus for us in the coming year."
In addition to these key priorities, the ACCC will continue its work on product safety, consumer and fair trading issues in the digital economy, with a focus on misleading or deceptive advertising within influencer marketing, online reviews, in-app purchases and unsafe consumer products.
Promoting choice, compliant sales practices and removing unfair contract terms such as subscription traps in online sales, is a key focus for the ACCC.
The focus on consumer, fair trading and competition concerns in relation to environmental claims and sustainability will also continue, with a new emphasis on greenwashing, as will a range of other priorities.
"In the year ahead, as we progress the priorities I have outlined today, we will continue to use our full range of tools and powers available under Australia's Competition and Consumer Act and the Australian Consumer Law, and to exercise our enforcement powers independently, in the public interest, and with integrity and professionalism," Ms Cass-Gottlieb said.
"We will also continue, as always, to remain clear eyed in our purpose to enhance competition across our economy, to promote the welfare of consumers and small businesses and to make markets work for all Australians."
More information including the full list of the ACCC's 2025-26 enforcement priorities is available at Compliance and enforcement policy and priorities.
A summary is also available at 2025-26 Compliance and Enforcement Priorities.
A transcript of the speech is available online.
