Fuel retailers found to be unfairly increasing prices while the war in the Middle East strains supplies will face hefty penalties under new laws.On Wednesday, Treasurer Jim Chalmers introduced a bill aimed at tackling "price gouging at the source" by enabling the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) to impose higher penalties So there's a deterrent effect in all of that," he told SBS News.However, he expressed concern that there still isn't a ban on price gouging, questioning whether the absence of such a ban was fair and reasonable.The Greens agreed, stating Chalmers was "misleading the Australian people" about the "crackdown", arguing it doesn't go far enough."The government's law doesn't make price gouging illegal, it just punishes companies that lie about doing it," Greens senator Nick McKim said.Campbell suggested examining existing powers around the misuse of market power or looking at how other countries assess price shifts during supply disruptions."We've got a law that says it's illegal to use your market power to keep prices artificially low, but we have no law that says it's illegal to use your market power to keep prices artificially high," he said."Other countries have things in place specifically to address market disruptions and supply shortages, which say that, when there's a disruption or shortage, it's illegal to charge unreasonable prices."Last year, Labor passed a price gouging ban on supermarkets, which will come into effect on 1 July