{"id":"BILL-s1430","name":"Competition and Consumer Amendment (Make Price Gouging Illegal) Bill 2024","slug":"competition-and-consumer-amendment-make-price-gouging-illegal-bill-2024","collection":"bill","jurisdiction":"commonwealth","status":"in_force","isInForce":true,"actNumber":null,"makingDate":null,"administeringDepartment":null,"currentVersion":{"id":445981,"registerId":"commonwealth-BILL-s1430-current","compilationNumber":null,"startDate":"2026-05-05","status":"introduced","reasons":null,"registeredAt":null},"sections":[],"analysis":{"summary":{"status_summary":"The bill was introduced in the Senate on 16 September 2024 and the second reading was negatived on 5 February 2026.","complexity_score":4,"likely_questions":["How will the prohibition on excessive pricing be enforced?","What happens if a corporation is found to have substantial market power?"],"complexity_factors":["Legal concepts such as substantial market power require interpretation","Assessment of what constitutes excessive pricing"],"plain_english_summary":"The Competition and Consumer Amendment (Make Price Gouging Illegal) Bill 2024 seeks to modify the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 by adding a new prohibition. This prohibition targets corporations that hold substantial market power. Such corporations would be barred from conduct that results in an excessive price being charged for any good or service. The measure also covers conduct that is likely to lead to such excessive pricing.\n\nThis amendment is designed to address situations where dominant companies might exploit their position to set unreasonably high prices. By focusing on corporations with substantial market power, the bill aims to maintain fair competition and protect consumers from price gouging. The change would apply across various goods and services in the Australian market.\n\nCorporations with substantial market power are the primary entities affected by this bill. These are companies that have significant influence in their market sector. Consumers purchasing from these corporations would benefit from the protection against excessive prices. The bill does not specify particular industries but applies generally where substantial market power exists.\n\nThe parliamentary progress of the bill shows it was introduced in the Senate. It was introduced and read a first time on 16 September 2024. The second reading was moved on 16 September 2024. The second reading debate occurred on 9 October 2024, after which the second reading was negatived.\n\nThe bill was restored to the notice paper on 26 August 2025. On 5 February 2026 the second reading was moved again. Debate on the second reading took place on 5 February 2026. The second reading was negatived on that date as well.\n\nAs the bill has had its second reading negatived in the Senate on two occasions, it has not proceeded to subsequent stages. No further action is scheduled based on the current progress. Stakeholders may observe if similar legislation is proposed in the future to tackle issues of excessive pricing by powerful corporations."},"flash_summary":{"complexity_score":7,"scope_assessment":{"changed":true,"description":"The bill appears to broaden the subject labelled \"price gouging\" into a general, ongoing prohibition within the Competition and Consumer Act rather than limiting it to emergency periods or narrowly defined crisis contexts. That represents a scope expansion compared to narrower, event-limited approaches to price gouging: it applies whenever a corporation with substantial market power sets a price that is excessive or likely to be excessive, thereby extending regulatory scrutiny to ordinary marketplace pricing decisions for large suppliers rather than only to temporary, emergency-driven spikes in price."},"complexity_factors":["Introduces at least three open-ended legal concepts to be applied in practice: \"substantial market power\", \"excessive price\", and \"likely to result\" (each requires factual/economic testing).","Overlap and interaction with existing Competition and Consumer Act provisions (notably misuse of market power and consumer protection provisions) increases legal cross-referencing and interpretive complexity.","Evidentiary burden: proving causation between conduct and price outcomes will require detailed economic evidence, market definition and counterfactual analysis (market-by-market inquiries).","Potential for nested exceptions or defences (e.g. legitimate cost increases, efficiency-based price changes) — even if not fully specified, such exceptions commonly arise and increase conditional logic in litigation.","Regulatory discretion: enforcement likely depends on ACCC prioritisation and prosecutorial choices, adding practical uncertainty for businesses.","High potential for follow-on litigation and appeals over methodology (price benchmarks, permissible margins), which multiplies legal complexity beyond the text of the bill.","Economic behavioural effects (non-price responses, restructuring to avoid thresholds) create secondary legal and market questions that courts and regulators will need to resolve case-by-case."],"plain_english_summary":"This bill adds to the Competition and Consumer Act a prohibition on corporations with \"substantial market power\" charging an excessive price for goods or services. It targets large suppliers able to act independently of competitors and customers, shifting oversight of exploitative pricing to regulators and courts.\n\nThat matters because it can protect buyers where markets fail, but it creates compliance, enforcement and evidentiary burdens, plus difficult judgments about what counts as an \"excessive\" price."}},"importantCases":[],"_links":{"self":"/api/acts/competition-and-consumer-amendment-make-price-gouging-illegal-bill-2024","history":"/api/acts/competition-and-consumer-amendment-make-price-gouging-illegal-bill-2024/history","analysis":"/api/acts/competition-and-consumer-amendment-make-price-gouging-illegal-bill-2024/analysis","conflicts":"/api/acts/competition-and-consumer-amendment-make-price-gouging-illegal-bill-2024/conflicts","importantCases":"/api/acts/competition-and-consumer-amendment-make-price-gouging-illegal-bill-2024/important-cases","documents":"/api/acts/competition-and-consumer-amendment-make-price-gouging-illegal-bill-2024/documents"}}