Meg, how did you, how did you come to start the Yarra Yabbies?

So the Yarra Yabbies was started by Katie O'Keefe, um, back in July 2021, and it started in lockdown, because we, in Melbourne, had a five-kilometer radius.

The swimming pools were shut down, and there was no public gathering.

It was a really isolating experience.

We [sighs] saw very few people.

We got one hour to walk every day.

And someone, Katie, and a f- couple of her friends, decided in the middle of winter, let's go swimming in the morning.

What would you like people to take away from this podcast after listening to you all, Meg?

How is it going in Australia?

That's correct.

Actually, there's a whole history behind this.

It began in 2024. when the government actually took out an inquiry into the supermarkets.

And from that inquiry, there was a number of recommendations.

And one of the top recommendations that they had was to bring in laws for price gouging.

And particularly in Australia, they're looking at it for just the supermarkets.

You know, wouldn't they be watching? If you've got price gouging legislation in, presumably they'd be pretty careful, wouldn't they, about their pricing structure? I'm just wondering whether it's already led to any constraints on prices there.

How's it going in Australia?

That's correct.

Actually, there's a whole history behind this.

Um, it began in, in twenty twenty-four when the government actually took out an inquiry into the supermarkets, and from that inquiry there was a number of recommendations, and one of the top recommendations that they had was to, um, bring in laws for price gouging, and particularly for in Australia, they're looking at it for just the supermarkets.

Um, from what you said, New Zealand's been way more expansive and it's looked at five other industries.

But for ours, we, we had, um, a very much a focus in the last two years or so.

We had a prosec- a prosecution against both Coles and Woolworths, which, who are our two major players.

Mm-hmm.

Hey Meg, can you remind us of the back story of how they've got themselves into this and the potential for fines this huge?

Well this isn't a story that I've kind of been talking about since September 2020, gosh, I'm thinking 2024 was when we began talking about it, when they released the supermarket inquiry.

So there was a big report that the government did.

It was by Professor Craig Emerson, who was the previous MP, and he came out with 14 regulations.

So this is a little bit of a while in the coming, but in the meantime...

We know that ACCC had a year-long inquiry against Coles and Woolworths.

Now, we know that both of these big supermarkets take up two-thirds of pretty much the grocery spend in Australia.

It's a big question.

Meg, can you remind us of the backstory of how they've got themselves into this and the potential for fines this huge?

Well, this isn't a story that I've kind of been talking about since.

September 2020, gosh, I'm thinking 2024 was when we began talking about it, when they released the supermarket inquiry.

So there was a big report that the government did.

It was by Professor Craig Emerson, who was a previous MP, and he came out with 14 regulations.

So this is a little bit of a while in the coming, but in the meantime...

We know that ACCC had a year-long inquiry against Coles and Woolworths.

Because

How significant is this current court action by the ACCC? And as we mentioned before, it's important to note both Coles and Woolworths are fighting these allegations, because this is an historic moment, isn't it, in corporate Australia?

It's an incredibly historic moment, and I go back to what Professor Allan Fels was saying here.

So he was the previous chairman of the ACCC, and he basically says that this is bogus business discounts.

And what we're pulling together here is not just Coles and Woolworths.

This is putting all other businesses on notice, that if you don't have genuine discounts, we're watching you, or at least those savvy consumers are watching you.

And it means that there's ramifications not only for fines here, but the way that companies do business.

The fines are significant.

But what other, apart from fines, what other penalties could these organizations face if they are found guilty of any of these charges?

Can you explain exactly what that is?

So maybe you will have seen the ads over the last few years that was, "Down, down, prices are down." And the whole premise of this particular campaign was that you had everyday prices that were discounted for a long series of time.

Now, when this case took place was when we were experiencing high inflation, so was 2022, 2023.

And what came about was there's a few savvy little consumers that thought, "Hold on.

These discounts don't feel real.

I remember that price being higher just a month or so ago." And so they started tracking and checking prices.

These consumers then alerted the ACCC, and the ACCC then went on a 15-month investigation of what they were doing with prices on...

But why is this so crucial? As in this is a very, very historic case in Australia's history, isn't it?

Is there a way that we can kinda game the system here?

Well, I think there is.

So you can clear your cache, right? So if it's based on your browsing history, and it's popping up with one price, you could clear your browsing history so it can't look at that.

You could, I mean, basically you could change your VPN so it doesn't know your location.

Um, but then that's only for very savvy people, right? That's for people that are really aware of their circumstances.

They're not, they're not relying on you being savvy.

They're relying on you- Responding to those immediate, um, immediate calls to action.

What kind of regulation do you think would be necessary to keep this fair?