The federal government's long awaited price caps on some essential items in remote grocery stores begins this week. It's a welcome move that advocates hope will reduce price gouging and increase food security.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese made the commitment earlier this year to introduce price caps in 76 remote grocery stores around the country. The scheme would require the prices of 30 essential goods to be the same in metropolitan and remote stores.
At the time, Albanese said the commitment, which was part of his annual Closing The Gap statement, was to tackle the health impacts of poor quality nutrition and a lack of affordable options for healthy food in remote communities.
He cited the 2024 CHOICE investigation into remote grocery stores, which found some First Nations communities in Western Australia and the Northern Territory paying more than twice the price of city shoppers for a basket of essential goods.
First Nations people ... have been paying significantly higher prices for essential items than people in the cities for far too long
Minister for Indigenous Australians, Senator Malarndirri McCarthy
Announcing the rollout of the $50 million scheme, the government said the number of stores involved will eventually be expanded to 152 stores.
"First Nations people living in remote communities have been paying significantly higher prices for essential items than people in the cities for far too long," Minister for Indigenous Australians, Senator Malarndirri McCarthy, stated this week.
"The start of the subsidy scheme marks a significant step in our work to ease cost of living pressures and improve food security issues for remote communities."
New Code of Practice
The move comes at the same time as the government introduces a new Code of Practice for remote grocery stores, which some advocates are concerned doesn't go far enough to stop price gouging and harmful practices.
The code introduces welcome requirements for stores to clearly display accurate prices and stock a minimum number of fresh fruits and vegetables and other healthy foods, but there are other areas where the code is lacking.
The government's draft code of practice was quietly published by the National Indigenous Australians Agency (NIAA) last month, before coming into effect in July 2025. The rushed two-week timeframe for submissions on the draft code and the lack of transparency put consumer advocates like Bettina Cooper from Mob Strong Debt Help offside immediately.
"It would have been good to have wider consultation and for consumer advocates to be given the proper opportunity to look at and understand what is in this," she says.
Concerns mount over Code
Cooper says the code as it is proposed is a "first step", but the fact that it's voluntary will limit its effectiveness.
"In other sectors we have seen time and time again that voluntary codes have limited success. There needs to be incentives for stores to join the code, or else why would they? Or what would stop them simply pulling out?" she says.
Mob Strong, along with the Indigenous Consumer Assistance Network (ICAN) and CHOICE have lodged a submission with the NIAA expressing several concerns.
We have seen time and time again that voluntary codes have limited success
Bettina Cooper, Mob Strong Debt Help
They include a lack of incentives for stores to join the code and the absence of both penalties for non-compliance, and a dispute resolution process for customers. The draft code referenced a dispute resolution process, which has since been omitted from the final version.
The submission also calls out the code's vague requirements around display pricing of goods in stores.
Closing the Gap
Cooper says it's important that the NIAA's code and the government's price caps are part of an effort to make sure remote stores continue to stock affordable essential items and are not seen by storekeepers as a reason to stock unhealthy foods with higher profit margins.
The government has said that participation in the subsidy price-cap scheme will require stores to sign up to the Code of Practice.
"If stores haven't signed up or haven't changed their behaviors, then the next step is the federal government needs to make a mandatory code so that this behavior of price gouging, that we know exists, is stamped out, if there is a true effort to close the gap," Cooper says.
"And there needs to be a true effort for every Australian to be able to eat healthily and be able to provide things like nappies and formula to their kids in an affordable and accessible manner," Cooper adds.
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