His call comes as Coles and Woolworths look set to face a parliamentary committee inquiring into whether they are price gouging to get record profits amid cost of living pressures.
Senator Watt on Monday sent a stern warning to supermarkets to "not profit off hardworking Aussies" in the lead-up to Christmas.Supermarkets should put a freeze on the price of leg ham, to give families certainty ahead of the big day, with Christmas being a tough time for those struggling with cost of living pressures, he said in a statement."The traditional ham is a staple of any Christmas lunch in Australia."And we know families are doing it tough at the moment and the cost of a lot of things is going up."It's time for supermarkets to do their part and say one thing we won't put up is the price of a Christmas ham".Senator Watt said farmers also needed certainty that they would get a fair price from supermarkets.
"For the average Aussie, it doesn't make sense that the price on the bottom of their docket is going up while these companies are recording massive profits," he said.
The Greens are seeking to establish a committee inquiry into the impact of market concentration on food prices and the pattern of pricing strategies employed by the supermarket duopoly.
Coles and Woolworths will be in the spotlight as the inquiry scrutinises the increasing cost of essential items, validity of discounts offered and profit inflations.
Greens senator Nick McKim said on the weekend that major supermarkets had had far too much power in Australia for too long.
"Coles and Woolworths are making billions in profits because they feel that they can overcharge people without repercussions (and) it needs to end," he said.
"We want the CEOs to justify their decisions in a public hearing."
But Nationals leader David Littleproud said a parliamentary inquiry would take too long when action was needed now to address the cost of living crisis facing Australians.
He has pushed for the consumer watchdog to investigate whether price gouging was occurring.
"The cost-of-living crisis is now, not next year and the supermarkets have form on this, having gouged consumers during COVID," he said.
Coles and Woolworths both posted profits of more than $1 billion in the past financial year.
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