Governments are not worried about the prices people have to pay for their groceries, or anything else. In fact, the higher prices are the better: the GST take is increased, and taxation is what governments are about.

The ACCC has no teeth. The new petrol commissioner has no teeth. No consumer body has teeth. If governments wanted them to have teeth, they would have them long ago.

I have said for years that all foods should have unit prices as it would most likely lead people back to shopping for basic foods, hence, reducing the financial burdin on many.

Just imagine the next time you buy your cappaccino, it's about $40.00 per kilo/litre. Now given milk costs about $3.00 per litre, why not make your own. Or then there is the good old 'cheese burger', about $45.00/kilo. Makes mince look affordable hey!

There is also a negative to this type of pricing. At present I sell 'top shelf' rump steak for about $27.00 per kilo. $2.70 per 100 grams may make it look cheaper.

"recent Australian research shows that people could reduce their grocery bills by as much as 47 per cent." That finding was the result of unpublished research carried out by the Queensland Consumers Association, advocates of Unit Pricing.
Unit pricing has been standard for fruit and vegetable items and most meat products for years now. Their arrival coincided with supermarkets replacing greengrocers and butchers where the items were sold(and weighed) by the greengrocer and butcher.The current push is for unit pricing to cover the rest of the grocery basket.
As a regular shopper the only savings I can see would result from comparing unit prices for the same branded product eg 1kg pack compared with a 375 gram pack. The big fly in the ointment is quality differences among products. There is no need to look at unit prices as almost without exception there will be a common can or bottle size so comparisons can be made and adjustments made for quality.
Then you have the problem of defining the unit. What is the "unit" for toilet rolls, washing up liquids?
I just wonder how many advocates of Unit Pricing and Grocery Watch actually do the shopping.

“SOUTH Australian households are paying almost $1100 more a year for groceries since the Federal Government came to power nearly two years ago. (‘The Advertiser’ 3.7.09).

Grocery prices have grown at more than twice the rate of inflation.
The current government has overseen this massive increase in two years. They have no intention of cutting back on their tax grab by trying to lower prices.

Dear Leigh
What has this to do with unit pricing?

"recent Australian research shows that people could reduce their grocery bills by as much as 47 per cent." That finding was the result of unpublished research carried out by the Queensland Consumers Association, advocates of Unit Pricing.

I have absolutely no idea how changing the way food is priced can save up to 47%.

I just wonder if these gurrus are the same mob that devised the recently failed grocery watch site. Gee I hope not cause I doubt we have a lazy $8mill to waste again!