Supermarket giant Coles will challenge the competition watchdog before a tribunal in a test of Australia's tough new merger laws, after the commission torpedoed its plan for a second supermarket and liquor store in a major mining centre.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission blocked Coles from taking over a site near the airport in the Goldfields town of Kalgoorlie-Boulder in Western Australia, ruling the move was likely to push out a smaller rival, reduce consumer choice and leave shoppers worse off.
