A senate inquiry into supermarket pricing has heard that people are turning to dumpster diving and stealing to combat the cost of living.

The first of three hearings, held in Hobart on Thursday, also saw the conduct of Coles and Woolworths labelled “criminal”.

Amelia Cromb from the Grassroots Action Network Tasmania said a large amount of edible food is being thrown out by supermarkets, which the group has passed on to members of the local community.

“It just seems like such a cruel mockery almost that people are going to supermarkets to buy food that is a human right,” she said.

“It’s criminal, there’s no other way to put it, it’s just unacceptable.”

A community group member accused supermarkets of throwing out consumable foods. Photo: Getty

She said some of the items had best-before dates months and even years after they were thrown out.

“These items are all in date,” she said.

“Any logical person would see this and know that it’s consumable, the best-before date is in 2025.”

Consumers turning to stealing

Nathan Calman, TasFarmers chief executive, told the inquiry that Coles and Woolworths were using their market power to reduce the price paid to farmers and increase prices for consumers.

“At one end of the supply chain, somebody can’t afford to buy something without stealing it,” he said.

“At the other end, you’ve got farmers contemplating suicide because they can’t receive a fair price.”

The inquiry will hold another two public hearings in Orange, New South Wales, on March 12 and in Melbourne on March 13.

Jeremy Griffiths, a local councillor and member of the National Farmers Federation’s horticultural council, said the duolopy’s power was impacting the industry.

“At this stage, every grower in this country feels they have almost no choice but to accept the price that is put on the table,” he said.

“It’s a very tilted playing field and this has had profound impacts on the entire sector.”

As prices have soared, more than one in 10 Australians have confessed to stealing from businesses in the previous 12 months.

Supermarket scrutiny

Coles and Woolworths have defended their pricing in submissions to the inquiry, but much of the scrutiny was on the lack of transparency in the supply chain.

Coles said despite over $1 billion in profits in the last financial year, increased prices haven’t led to higher profits.

“A key driver of supermarket price increases has been cost price increase requests from our suppliers and farmers,” Coles said in its submission.

Woolworths said the company was confident prices will continue to fall.

“Prices have been falling across beef and lamb products since the middle of 2023,” it said.

“We have dropped the price of (roughly) 80 red meat products over the last six months, including 20 per cent off all lamb standard cuts in November 2023.”

The supermarkets defended their pricing in submissions to the inquiry. Photo: Getty

The duopoly will soon be forced to defend its pricing and practices at another inquiry, with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission putting the pair firmly in its sights.

The Albanese government ordered the 12-month review from the ACCC in January.