Economic Justice and Treasury

If you’ve been shocked at the supermarket checkout, you’re not alone. Millions of us are being ripped off by Coles and Woolworths.

Australia’s supermarket giants control 65% of the market, driving up grocery prices, squeezing farmers, and recording record profits. 

The major parties take millions in donations from Coles and Woolies to fund their election campaigns. They’re not serious about reform.

The Greens are working to stop price gouging, break up corporate monopolies, support farmers and producers and bring down the cost of food for everyday people.

The Greens' plan:

• Make price gouging illegal, with penalties of up to $50 million for breaches. The ACCC will be empowered to take corporations to court if they abuse their market power and require enforceable undertakings to lower prices to competitive levels.
• Introduce divestiture powers to break up the supermarket duopoly, allowing the ACCC and courts to order companies that misuse market power to divest assets and reduce their market share.
• Create a new Prices Commission to monitor and examine price-setting practices across the economy, including the supermarket sector.
• Strengthen protections for farmers by making the Food and Grocery Code of Conduct mandatory, with significant penalties for unfair conditions and pressure on producers.
• Increase resources for the ACCC to investigate referrals from the Prices Commission and enforce new price gouging and market power misuse laws across all sectors.

Australia’s biggest corporations are making record profits while workers’ wages have stagnated, and everyday people struggle with the rising cost of essentials like food, housing, and insurance. 

Right now, 1 in 3 big corporations pays no tax.

Unlike Labor and the Liberals, who have allowed corporations to price gouge unchecked, the Greens are working to hold corporations accountable and ensure the economy works for everyone, not just the ultra wealthy.

The Greens' plan:

• Introduce a 40% excess profits tax on corporations with over $100 million in turnover to curb corporate greed and drive investment in public services and infrastructure.
• Apply the tax to net revenue after a fair return to shareholders, targeting only excessive profits to reduce inequality.
• Use this to fund critical services, infrastructure, and productivity-enhancing projects.

While millions struggle with skyrocketing mortgage repayments, the big banks are raking in billions in profits. The Greens are focused on reining in the banks’ power and ensuring homebuyers and mortgage holders get a fair go.

Our plan will hold big banks accountable and provide relief to mortgage holders and first home buyers, ensuring the housing system works for people, not corporate profits.

The Greens' plan:

• Lower mortgage costs by legislating a HomeKeeper mortgage product, with a regulatory ceiling at no more than 1% above the cash rate to prevent banks from overcharging.
• Deliver real savings for homeowners, with a HomeKeeper loan saving the average mortgage holder up to $357 per month or $4,284 annually.
• Empower regulators by giving the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) and the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) the authority to block banks from imposing unnecessary mortgage price increases.
• Ensure fairness by requiring banks to seek approval from both regulators before charging interest rates above the regulatory ceiling.
• Support smaller banks with a wholesale funding guarantee, enabling them to compete with major banks by borrowing at equivalent costs.

Everyday people are struggling to pay the rent, or being forced to choose between putting food on the table or paying a doctor’s bill. At the same time, multinational companies aren’t paying their fair share of tax.

The Australian Taxation Office’s Tax Avoidance Taskforce was created in 2016 to target tax avoidance by the most significant, wealthiest taxpayers. It focuses on the most prominent companies to ensure they pay their fair share of tax.

The Greens' plan:

• Provide ongoing funding so that the Tax Avoidance Taskforce can crack down on multinational tax avoidance.

The system is broken. Corporations cannot be allowed to play by a different set of rules.

The major party duopoly has refused to take meaningful action on supermarket price gouging and other abuses of market power by banks, supermarkets, airlines and other major corporations that are making it harder for everyday people to put food on the table and pay the bills. 

The Greens' plan:

• Increase the value of corporate penalties for misuse of market power to ten times their current rate, to make sure the big corporations face real consequences for their actions. 

Australia’s superannuation funds and retail investors are losing billions of dollars a year to high frequency trading, and other forms of financial market speculation.

These powerful corporate investors can cause major market fluctuations that increase instability and hurt everyday investors. 

The Greens are focused on introducing a fair tax to curb these harmful practices and protect the investments of superannuation funds and retail investors.

The Greens' plan:

• Reduce market instability and protect everyday investors by introducing a low-rate financial transactions tax of 0.1% on equity and debt securities, and 0.012% on derivatives. 
• This policy will disrupt the high-frequency traders and speculators making thousands of trades daily who are benefitting at the expense of ordinary people.

While ordinary Australians struggle with the rising cost of living, billionaires are amassing more wealth than ever. Between 2018 and 2024, during prolonged economic crises, the total wealth of Australia’s billionaires more than doubled.

The Labor and Liberal parties have created and upheld a system that allows billionaires like Gina Rinehart to hoard $40 billion while too many people can’t afford rent or groceries. It’s time to tax billionaires properly and use that revenue to fund essential services like housing and healthcare.

The Greens' plan:

• Fund essential services like affordable housing, Medicare, and public infrastructure by introducing a 10% annual tax on billionaires’ net wealth and 5% on individuals with wealth between $100 million and $1 billion to raise $85 billion over the forward estimates.
• Ensure billionaires and the ultrawealthy can't dodge their fair share by limiting capital flight to 10% per year, stopping wealth hoarding and tax avoidance.

Australia’s five biggest banks are some of the most profitable in the world. The companies raked in over $33 billion in the last financial year, while CEOs pocketed over $55 million in salary and bonuses.

The big banks have profited from the cost of living crisis, reaping massive profits from skyrocketing mortgages and rents. 

The Greens' plan:

• Ensure major banks repay cheap COVID-era funding by requiring repayment of the Term Funding Facility and bond repayments from their ‘excess reserves’ accounts issued during quantitative easing.
• Increase the major bank levy rate to 0.08% per quarter, up from 0.015%, to ensure big banks contribute more fairly to Australia’s economy.

Small businesses and cooperatives are the backbone of Australia’s economy, employing millions and fostering vibrant local communities.

While Labor and the Liberals prioritise the profits of big corporations, the Greens are focused on giving small businesses and cooperatives the support they need to thrive in tough economic times.

The Greens' plan:

• Support small business growth and innovation by establishing a small business incubator to provide 1,000 grants of $250,000 and 10,000 grants of $50,000–$75,000 for startups and cooperatives that enhance local economies and create jobs.
• Provide certainty for small businesses by extending the $20,000 instant asset write-off and the Small Business Energy Incentive Scheme to 1 July 2026.

While workers’ wages stagnate, CEOs of major corporations are pocketing millions in bonuses and salaries.

The Greens are pushing to cap excessive CEO pay and ensure corporations invest in fair wages for their workers.

The Greens' plan:

• Cap CEO remuneration by removing tax deductions for salaries over 15 times the average weekly earnings.

Australia’s tax system should reflect the principle of a fair go, but Labor and the Liberals have undermined it with tax cuts for the wealthy. The Greens are fighting for a fairer, more progressive tax system that supports everyday people and funds essential public services.

The Greens' plan:

• Ensure fairness in tax cuts by keeping the Stage 3 tax cuts for people earning below $200,000, while removing benefits for those earning above this threshold. This would be done by converting the Stage 3 tax cuts in to a low and middle income tax offset that ensures ordinary people get the full benefit of the tax cut, but phases out at 15 cents for every dollar above $180,000. 
• Introduce a 60% tax rate for individuals earning more than $1 million annually in income to ensure the wealthiest contribute their fair share.
• Limit tax deductions with a 'Buffett rule,' capping deductions at $5,000 for individuals earning over $360,000 (the top 1% of earners).
• Implement a minimum tax rate of 30% on non-primary production discretionary trust distributions to mature beneficiaries, closing loopholes that unfairly benefit the wealthy.

Superannuation should ensure a dignified retirement for all, not act as a tax haven for the ultra-wealthy. But Labor and Liberal governments have turned it into a tool for wealth accumulation, allowing the richest 1% to exploit massive tax breaks.

Just 0.6% of super accounts hold 14% of all super savings, while millions of retirees struggle. Public funds should be lifting pensioners out of poverty and properly funding aged care—not subsidising the wealthy

The Greens' plan:

• Ensure the wealthiest 1% pay their fair share by stopping tax breaks on excessive super savings.
• Redirect public funds to aged care and income support by discontinuing superannuation tax concessions for amounts over the transfer balance cap.
• Restore superannuation’s true purpose—to provide a secure retirement for workers, not a taxpayer-funded wealth-building scheme for billionaires.