On 19 February 2026, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) Chair, Gina Cass-Gottlieb, announced the regulator’s enforcement and compliance priorities at a Committee for Economic Development of Australia (CEDA) event.
A key theme in the speech was the connection between consumer protection and competition policy, and the ACCC’s role in ensuring that markets function effectively and strengthen the economy as a whole. Another theme throughout the speech was the principle of ‘right-sized regulation’. That is, the regulator taking rigorous action where harm is the greatest to protect consumers and promote competition.
The ACCC’s priorities are broadly consistent with previous years, with a continued focus on essential services, supermarkets, environmental and sustainability claims, and competition and consumer issues in digital markets. It is also clear that challenges facing the economy, such as the rising cost of goods and services and the transition to a sustainable economy, continue to form the broader context to the ACCC’s priorities.
Businesses should be aware that the ACCC continues to focus on its long-term priorities (i.e. those which it considers to be extremely damaging to competition and consumer welfare). This includes cartel conduct, anti-competitive conduct, product safety issues, conduct impacting vulnerable or disadvantaged consumers, and detecting and disrupting scams.
Some of the ACCC’s priorities for 2026-2027 are set out below:
- Supermarket and retail: targeting competition and consumer concerns in the supermarket and retail sectors.
- Essential services: promoting competition in essential services, such as telecommunications, electricity and gas, and targeting misleading pricing and claims.
- Aviation: competition and consumer issues in the aviation sector.
- Digital markets: targeting manipulative and false practices, and promoting competition, in digital markets.
- Environmental claims: addressing consumer concerns in relation to environmental claims (and in particular, greenwashing).
- Unfair contract terms such as harmful cancellation terms, including those associated with automatic renewals, early termination fee clauses, and non-cancellation clauses.
The ACCC has continued to prioritise competition issues in the supermarket and retail sector given the increased cost of living and impact on household budgets. This is also unsurprising given the ACCC’s recent findings in its Supermarkets Inquiry that the industry is dominated by Coles and Woolworths, giving them advantages in securing new sites. A recent example of the ACCC’s focus on the pricing practices of supermarkets is its court actions against Coles and Woolworths for the allegedly misleading ‘’Prices Dropped’ and ‘Down Down’ promotions.
The new merger reform regime is also a focus for the ACCC following the commencement of the regime this year. In the speech, the ACCC Chair emphasised that the ACCC will be focused on administering the regime transparently and efficiently going forward.
The ACCC’s enforcement priorities, such as its focus on the supermarket and retail sector, are also reflected in the regulator’s consideration of mergers and acquisitions under the new mandatory and suspensory regime. Currently, the ACCC is closely examining Coles’ proposed acquisition of a leasehold interest for a supermarket in Kalgoorlie under the new merger regime (refer to our article here). The ACCC found that the proposed acquisition requires an in-depth, phase 2 assessment to understand the likely impact it will have on competition. One other acquisition – Ampol’s proposed acquisition of EG – is also subject to a phase 2 assessment.
Increased penalties for misleading and deceptive conduct and cartel conduct
In another significant development, on 11 March 2026, the Australian government announced that penalties for false or misleading conduct and cartel conduct will be doubled from $50 million to $100 million per contravention.
If passed, this would constitute a significant increase from the current penalties for this conduct, which is the greater of: $50 million, 3 times the benefit from the breach or 30% of the “adjusted turnover” during the breach turnover period for the breach, per offence.
In recent years, significant penalties have been handed out for breaches of Australia’s cartel conduct laws. For example, in 2023, Federal Court of Australia ordered that BlueScope Steel Limited pay a penalty of $57.5 million AUD for attempted price fixing of flat steel products supplied in Australia. If the penalties for cartel conduct are doubled, offending companies are likely to face even greater penalties in the future for contravening conduct.
In light of the rising concerns around essential goods and services such as petrol, the Australian government will also enhance the ACCC’s fuel monitoring and reporting powers with a focus on unusual price spikes, following volatility in the price of oil and petrol over the past few weeks.
For further information, please contact:
Thomas Jones, Partner, Bird & Bird
thomas.jones@twobirds.com
