benefit our economy.

We do, of course, want to make sure that those competitors will comply with our consumer protection laws, won't impose restrictions that prevent Australian businesses competing, which would be an anti-competitive conduct issue.

However, we welcome competition from wherever that competition comes, provided those competitors comply with Australian law.

We are confident in our ability to enforce Australian law against global companies.

This has been tested quite recently in the High Court, actually relating to the Ruby Princess operations, and it showed the High Court was very clear that a foreign company, even with an overseas tourist who was the one that took the action, and where the contract was under overseas law because that business and the particular matter that was being raised related to business within Australia, that that was covered by our law and that the rules and in fact the norms of behaviour that are under the Australian Consumer Law applied.

So we are very comfortable that our Act gives us jurisdiction against global companies.

But do they do that at their peril? Do they recognise that there is danger in doing so?

We have very recently, in response to a designated complaint given to us by Choice, been asked to look at the question of how well our product safety standards and laws apply to global international online marketplaces.

Would you describe it as one of the most significant cases for the ACCC?

Yes, I do describe it as one of our most significant cases.

It's significant because eggs is such an essential everyday grocery product for consumers across Australia.

It's also an important industry for our agricultural sector and it also brings together a number of our very important products focus and priority areas for our compliance and enforcement program.

And that includes essentials for consumers in a time of cost of living pressures.

Secondly, the supermarket sector and supply to the supermarket sector.

And thirdly, we always prioritize investigations into serious anti-competitive conduct.

And what penalties do those involved face?

Yep.

But the joint venture does need to be the restrictions.

So let's say that these parties, who produce separately, Fran, they don't, they're not joint producers.

They are joint marketing channel for separately produced product, that the agreement, the restraints they put in place where they've coordinated need to be necessary for the purposes of the joint venture.

So they will have to prove that.

They will also have to prove they were not for a purpose of substantially lessening competition.

And these are points that will be important in the court.

What, what is that? W- a- and does that make your case easier to mount, do you think? Because in the past, these have been very tricky cases, some of them, for the ACCC to, to prove and win.

Um, but do you think their margins should be less? I mean, and when you, um, when you administer the new, new regime that was introduced on July the 1st, will you be looking to squeeze their margins?

So the critical question in that, uh, new set of regulation is, are the margins reasonable? Uh, looking at the costs or looking at the areas of service, these are all points that we are going to look to.

Certainly in our inquiry, we found that Coles and Woolworths sit amongst the top bracket of profitable supermarket businesses in the world.

So that is one indication that there is value in scrutinizing here.

What we are going to do is choose a set of key focus products influenced by where prices are particularly high, influenced by consumer reports to us, influenced by, uh, what we can see in terms of dispersion of margins, for example.

And then we will particularly focus in periods of times on, on those products.

And we will also be giving public reports about what we're doing, because one of the key aspects, uh, that we also find is that the ability of monitoring and casting a light, shining a light, uh, is an important part also of accountability and, uh, through that transparency that consumers can know what their choices are and also the businesses know they're being accountable.

I mean, uh, how are you thinking about that?