The ACCC’s war on oligopolies

It’s been a busy year for Australia’s consumer and competition regulator. The ACCC has made headlines, taking supermarket giant Coles to court over misleading discount pricing - and winning. A similar court case involving Woolworths pricing schemes is ongoing. But beyond the high-profile legal cases - the ACCC stays busy - carefully considering nearly every corner of the Australian economy. Gina Cass-Gottlieb has been Chair of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission since 2022. She joins Alan to talk about everything from petrol price cycles to digital platform competition. They also cover merger frameworks, mistakes from history, and just why it is that Australia seems to have two of everything.Cass-Gottlieb gives a window into how the ACCC understands its role in the economy - as challenger of oligopoly and or protector of consumers. And reveals how complaints from Australian consumers, sometimes even a single one, steer the regulator’s investigations. ACCC Chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb joins Alan Kohler to unpack it all on That's Business with Alan Kohler.Got a burning business question?Send a short voice recording to the ABC Business Daily team at [email protected]