Professor Allan Fels AO National Press Club Speech Wednesday 7 February 2024

However, there is silence about actual prices charged to consumers, the processes by which they are set, the profit margins and their contribution of prices to inflation. [...] It has occurred against a background of high and seemingly rising corporate concentration and is reflected in the surge of corporate profits and the rise in the profit share of Gross Domestic Product. [...] This is to be found in research from the OECD, IMF, Bank of International Settlements, the European Commission, the European Central Bank, the US Federal Reserve Bank, the Bank of England and many think tanks globally and locally and many detailed research studies around the world and in Australia. [...] Drip pricing occurs when firms only advertise part of the price of a product and only reveal later other additional elements of the price as the customer goes through the buying process. [...] We need to ask whether we should redesign the market or consider switching to the USA, and WA, system of a capacity market to reduce price gouging and help the energy transition.