The issue is, I don't actually think they were."In a report last year, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) found the near-duopoly of Coles and Woolworths gave them little incentive to compete vigorously, noting that they were among the most profitable supermarkets in the world.But its report never directly accused the supermarkets of gouging customers, and it's something both Coles and Woolworths have denied.Asher said rising grocery bills are more due to a structural lack of competition in the Australian market."Until there is meaningful competition in the Australian market which forces our retailers to actually compete for us, then we will continue to see higher prices," she said.Proving price gouging isn't easy.Experts say the laws will be difficult to enforce in practice and even harder to use to win back customers' trust."The law's real test won't be in court; it'll be in the public's gut But the public's test is memory-based, asking whether this price is higher than expected."A retailer can clear the legal bar easily, for entirely legitimate reasons like a bad harvest or rising freight costs, and it will still feel like gouging at the checkout."The laws also don't define what "excessive" means or what counts as a reasonable margin — and with supermarkets selling thousands of products under shared costs, isolating any single item's true margin is difficult.That difficulty lands at an already tense moment for supermarket trust.Coles and Woolworths remain two of Australia's least trusted brands, according to Roy Morgan research.In May, Coles were penalised over its 'Down Down' promotion for "misleading representation", temporarily increasing the prices of products before placing them on sale