Corporations that overcharge consumers could be fined up to $50 million, under a federal Greens proposal to outlaw price gouging.
Australians are buckling under financial pressures as the cost of household essentials like rent, groceries and energy and interest repayments soar.
The Greens are pointing the finger at some corporations, and on Thursday the minor party will announce a bill to prohibit large companies from abusing their market power by charging excessive prices for goods and services.
If a corporation is found to have illegally price gouged a court could impose millions in penalties, under the legislation, which appears unlikely to win the support of the major parties.
Greens senator Nick McKim says the bill, which will be introduced in the Senate next week, could rein in "corporate greed" and reduce the cost of food and groceries.
"There is rampant price gouging and it needs to end," he said.
"The choice is clear: side with the big corporations who are profiting from people's pain, or side with the Australians who are struggling to get by."
The Greens bill mirrors similar measures in the European Union, which already prohibits abusive conduct by companies with a dominant position in a particular market.
Meanwhile, other political players have proposed their own solutions to the cost-of-living crisis.
If the coalition wins the 2025 federal election, it plans to introduce divestiture powers to break up the major supermarkets if they engage in anti-competitive behaviour.
And on Monday, Nationals senator Bridget McKenzie proposed a similar measure be considered to tackle concentrated market power in the aviation industry.
On the government side, Labor has begun a review into the Food and Grocery Code, which advised against breaking up supermarkets to avoid further market concentration and job losses.
The government has also begun a two-year-long competition review into reforms that would increase productivity and reduce the cost of living.
Earlier in 2024, Labor started reworking merger rules in an attempt to prevent harmful business combinations that quash competition and create high price environments while limiting consumer choice.
The proposed laws would introduce mandatory notification of proposed mergers and bolster the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission's power and resources to assess them.
