Iniimbestigahan ng Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) ang mga supplier sa mga regional area ng Australia, kasunod ng mga reklamo tungkol sa fuel surcharges na umaabot ng higit sa 70%.
May mga naiulat ding fuel surcharges sa mga lungsod bilang dagdag-singil sa mga café, restaurant, at travel companies.
Ayon kay Matt Grudnoff, senior economist ng Australia Institute, ilegal sa Australia ang panlilinlang sa mga customer, halimbawa, ang maling pagsasabi na ang pagtaas ng presyo ay dahil lamang sa pagtaas ng gastos.
Gayunpaman, may ilang uri ng price gouging na legal pa rin sa ilalim ng batas.
Most people don't know that, but it is not illegal to price gouge.Matt Grudnoff, senior economist, the Australia Institute
"If a firm sees that everybody's talking about price increases and they decide on the back of that to increase their prices, even though their costs haven't gone up, that's perfectly legal," ani Grudnoff.
Ayon kay Professor David Byrne, Ritchie Chair of Economic Research sa University of Melbourne, mahalaga ang malusog na kompetisyon para labanan ang price gouging.
Pero sinabi rin niya na isa itong malaking hamon sa Australia.
"We have fewer firms supplying us. And so we see that in petrol. We see that in banking, supermarkets ... these companies have market power," saad niya.
When you only have a few players in a market, the lack of competition means you'll get higher prices.Professor David Byrne, the University of Melbourne
Sa episode na ito ng SBS Examines, tinatalakay natin ang price gouging at tinatanong: paano makapaghahanda ang mga Australyano para sa posibleng pagtaas ng presyo ng petrolyo sa hinaharap?
Ang ulat na ito ay binuo sa tulong ng SBS Nepali, SBS Russian, at SBS Chinese.
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