The Green Party has today announced a plan to break up the supermarket duopoly by creating a publicly owned supermarket chain called KiwiMart, as part of its Affordable Kai election policy.
"Our country produces enough food to feed 40 million people. There is no shortage of food in Aotearoa, but it's somehow becoming too expensive for too many New Zealanders," says Green Party Co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick.
"Two companies control what almost everyone in this country eats, and they take about a million dollars a day in excess profit out of our shopping baskets. That is money that should be in people's pockets."
"Everyone agrees we need competition in the grocery sector to drive down prices, but successive Governments have failed to lure one. That's why today we are announcing the real solution: a supermarket owned by all New Zealanders, for all New Zealanders."
"There are only so many places in a town where a supermarket can go, and Woolworths and Foodstuffs have seen to it that these sites are locked up. We're not short of supermarkets, we're short of competition. As experts have noted, divestment - that is, buying already existing stores - is key to breaking up the duopoly."
The full policy includes:
Modelling by the Parliamentary Library puts the cost of acquiring 120 stores and two distribution centres at $1.3 billion, with a further $1.5 billion to capitalise KiwiMart as a commercially viable competitor.
"Successive governments have studied this problem to death. There have been market studies, codes of conduct and stern letters, while the price of groceries skyrocketed. The Greens will not sit on our hands. We will ensure New Zealanders get the affordable groceries they deserve," says Swarbrick.
Green Party Co-leader Marama Davidson says the plan also rebuilds the parts of the food system that governments have run down.
"One in five children in this country live in a household that runs out of food. The Luxon Government's response was to cut what it spends on a child's lunch, hand the job to a handful of big companies, and destroy up to 2,000 local jobs doing it."
"Half of those lunches now fail to meet nutrition standards. Children who miss meals are two to four years behind their classmates in maths, reading and science. We will restore Ka Ora, Ka Ako, put it back in the hands of schools and local providers, and expand it so 150,000 more tamariki get a decent lunch every day."
"We will also put $150 million a year into the food rescue organisations, food hubs, marae and social supermarkets already doing this work on the smell of an oily rag, because they know their communities better than any Minister does.”
“We will lift funding for food banks and regional food distribution from up to $8 million to $25 million while we fix the system that made them necessary."
The Green Party launched the plan at Everybody Eats in Glen Innes, where meals made from rescued food are served on a pay-what-you-can basis.
