The grocery giant and rival Woolworths have been in the sights of Canberra and the consumer watchdog after a damaging year for the sector's reputation.
Chairman James Graham addresses shareholders at Coles' annual general meeting in Melbourne on Tuesday as cut-price competitor Aldi fronts an Australian Competition and Consumer Commission inquiry into price rises at supermarket checkouts.
Coles and Woolworths together control about two thirds of the grocery sector and have been accused by a separate Senate inquiry of abusing their market power to the detriment of shoppers and suppliers.
The competition watchdog launched legal action against the pair in September, alleging they misled shoppers by substantially raising prices before marginally lowering them on hundreds of popular products and passing it off as a discount.
Both Coles and Woolworths strenuously deny the allegations and point out their profit margins have not widened substantially since inflation kicked off - a sign they aren't jacking up prices to gouge consumers.
They still have their work cut out to convince the public and lawmakers, with the coalition threatening to introduce laws that would allow the major chains to be forcibly broken up.
Coles executives will face the ACCC's supermarkets inquiry later in November.
Shareholders will also vote on a resolution to stop sourcing farmed salmon from Tasmania's Macquarie Harbour, where aquaculture practices threaten the existence of the Maugean skate, a prehistoric ray estimated to number between 40 to 120 in the wild.
Environmental advocates Neighbours of Fish Farming will confront the board on the issue, but the group's president Peter George applauded Coles for at least promising to reduce the amount of salmon sourced from the harbour.
Mr George knows the resolution has a slim chance of success, with a similar vote at Woolworths' annual general meeting in October garnering less than five per cent support.
But the important thing is that both Coles and Woolworths have been put on notice about their contribution to the decline of the skate, he said.
"They've been given an opportunity to act to save an extinction and the health of the harbour, they cant deny they didn't know about it," Mr George told AAP.
"They will rue the day they decided to side with heavy industry over the environment."
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