Labour have started their reform of the obscene Supermarket Duopoly…
Govt Helps Supermarket Shoppers Get A Fair Deal – New Zealand Government
Hon Dr David Clark
Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs
Urgent Budget night legislation to stop major supermarkets blocking competitors from accessing land for new stores has been introduced today, Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs Dr David Clark said.
The Commerce (Grocery Sector Covenants) Amendment Bill amends the Commerce Act 1986, banning restrictive covenants on land, and exclusive covenants on leases. It also makes existing covenants unenforceable.
“This is a major first step in delivering on our commitment to ensuring New Zealanders get a fairer deal at the checkout,” David Clark said.
“This legislation stops supermarkets from engaging in the anti-competitive land wars we’ve seen, where they buy up land or dictate the terms of leases to block their competitors from getting a foothold in the area.
“This practice leaves customers without choice and sees suburbs and shopping centres with only one option. An example of this is Ponsonby, in Auckland, which is only serviced by one provider.
“Limiting supermarket options for consumers severely restricts their ability to shop around for a better range of products, and of course, a better price.
“This legislation is a clear signal of how seriously the Government’s is taking this issue. We’re tackling a root cause of the problem that prevents an even playing field for new competitors to enter the market.
“The Commerce Commission’s market study found competition is not working well for consumers in its current state. In fact, it found major grocery retailers are earning excess profits of around $1 million a day. Something needs to change.
“This is just the first part of the Government’s response to the retail grocery sector market study. I expect to release information about further steps the Government is taking to improve competition shortly,” David Clark said.
…like everything with Labour, first great timid baby step followed by fucking nothing.
The most egregious abuse of duopoly power has been this anti-competitive land war they’ve both waged to stamp out competition for pure monopoly rentals.
The cost of living crisis is hurting the very voters Labour promised to be transformative for.
The list of tax wonkery Jacinda descends into when listing the tinkering around the edges Labour has done that seems to believe everyone struggling is a certified tax accountant who are doing their taxes weekly is a farce.
The Left have done sweet fuck all for the material hardships of poverty, housing, inequality and climate change.
$27 a week for 13 weeks is not a fucking solution!
As I have pointed out tirelessly, while Labour saved us from Covid, they haven’t saved us from the ruthlessness of the under regulated free market.
I have argued over and over that we will see double digit inflation this year and that asking kiwis to endure more isn’t a political solution.
They need to hope that their basic costs will come down.
They need to believe a new Supermarket backed by the Government could do that.
Covid taught us food security matters and a Supermarket chain that embeds a cheaper food security while supporting local supplies is a necessity to correct a broken market!
Government should enter into a deal with Iwi to stock a new chain of Government/Iwi Supermarkets that champion local produce at better prices for the consumer and
We need a kiwi subsidy on all local produce to recognize that producers have already used water and created local climate changing gases to create their product and as such consumers have already paid a price just to get the product to their table.
We should feed the 5million here first before boasting about feeding 40million world wide!
Calls to ‘feed the 5 million first’ before exporting NZ food
People are going hungry even though New Zealand produces enough food to feed 40 million – and it’s spurring calls for the country to “feed the five million first”.
Almost 40 percent of New Zealand households experience food insecurity, while 19 percent of children live in households that experience food insecurity.
Poverty researcher Dr Rebekah Graham said while working on her thesis on food insecurity, she interviewed a woman who walked for 90 minutes each day to get a free community meal.
A state owned 3rd supermarket chain would do more for providing a cheaper means of living to all kiwis who have food security issues. It would do more for welfare than any single PM since Savage.
History is calling Labour. To date you have had nothing to show beyond crisis responses. We still have over 200 000 kids in poverty, over 22000 on emergency housing lists, growing inequality and a climate crisis with no real solutions.
A state owned supermarket chain that radically forced competition on base level cost of living for a vast swathe of New Zealanders would be a legacy worthy of Labour.
We need to be kinder to individuals and crueler to corporations.
The people are hurting economically, is the Left so bereft of ideas beyond middle class identity politics virtue signals that we have nothing to offer them?
As I have said time and time again, if you don’t want the poor to have their economic misery manipulated by the Right, then do something about their economic misery!
Let’s be clear, the Ukrainian war on top of the mega drought will send food inflation prices through the roof by December.
Labour need more than $27 a week for 3 months if they want the people to support them.
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I find it hard to comprehend that we can have a competition law, with two players clearly in a dominant position, that somehow allows this behaviour in the first place. It tries to prevent anti competitive pricing practices, price fixing etc, but seemingly doesn’t stop you from preventing competition from turning up altogether? You would have thought a clause in a contract or lease would be non binding if in clear breach of the law, but clearly its not. I wonder what other industries this could impact. If lawyers give this advice, it won’t be for just one or two clients ( unless I guess the supermarket legal teams are all in house)
Wheel. My local small suburban shopping mall changed hands a couple of years ago. Some smaller shops closed. The new owners are connected to, and are possibly the same as the Indian owners of NWS. A shop occupier, whose rental has risen and who said that their business is struggling, told me that NWS has plans to build and expand, possibly to try and squeeze Countdown, only other supermarket, and generally cheaper.
Other vacated premises in the small old claustrophobic mall, are now occupied by a vaccination centre run by a local medical practice about which I have reservations, and it’s gloomy pr entering the mall now confronted by queues of desolate-looking characters resembling escapees from the twilight zone, although the queues have eased off lately, and there’s no need to ask people to mask up compliance is 99.9%.
There’s an easier solution – pick up the phone, call Aldi and ask them what they would need to open 100 stores across NZ.
Then use the power of Govt to make that happen.
Prices will fall significantly and quality will improve as it always does in truly competitive market
Does excess profits of 1 million a day…mean over and above normal’ supermarket profit margins.?
There are 350 Countdown,New World and P&Save supermkts in NZ.
Hard to believe that their profits are a measly $365mil a year.
Labour fucked me off so I will now fuck them off in return. What goes around comes around traitors.
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