Now to the Senate inquiry into the cost of living, which wrapped up a short while ago.

Facing the Senate committee are several representatives from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission and Treasury, who are answering various questions about ongoing inquiries, pieces of legislation and codes of conduct.

Greens Senator Nick McKim asked ACCC deputy chair Mick Keogh whether it’s possible to have a highly concentrated oligopoly that is also highly competitive.

“It is possible they could be fierce rivals and competing fiercely against each other, or even where there’s three in an oligopoly, they could be competing fiercely against each other,” Keogh responded.

“Our further analysis, which is looking at pricing margins, will tell us much more about the extent to which that competition is occurring and the nature of that competition.”

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For context, McKim’s question is picking up from an earlier question put to Coles and Woolworths representatives who both defended the supermarket sector as being highly competitive while acknowledging that the ACCC’s interim report into supermarket prices described the sector as oligopolistic.

Senator Dean Smith pressed the supermarket representatives on whether Australian shoppers might see any grocery price decreases in time for Christmas.

Woolworths Supermarkets and Metro chief commercial officer Paul Harker said the grocery retailer was always looking for ways to reduce prices, but sidestepped the question.

“We have a number of things that we’ll be working on, and quite naturally, with my competitor sitting on the same forum, I wouldn’t like to disclose what I was planning or wasn’t planning to do with Christmas products and pricing,” he said.

Coles’ head of public affairs Adam Fitzgibbons indicated he shared the same sensitivities as Woolworths, with both sitting on the same call as each other.