Govt Must Break Up Supermarkets – Green Party

The Government needs to do much more to address supermarket profiteering, which is driving high food prices.

“A report released today says that the Government’s proposed reforms will not be enough to address the high cost of groceries,” says the Green Party’s spokesperson for commerce and consumer affairs, Ricardo Menéndez March.

“The report agrees with what the Green Party has been saying for a really long time: that the time is now to break up the supermarket duopoly.

“Not only that but the government can take immediate action with a tax on excessively high supermarket profit and use the money to help people.

“The report comes only a day after Statistics NZ announced the highest food price inflation since 1987. This cannot be allowed to continue.

“At the same time, the two largest supermarket corporations in Aotearoa are making $1 million in profits per day while whānau struggle to put food on the table.

“We’re long overdue a serious look at forcing supermarkets to divest their subsidiary companies. The Green Party is the only party with the solutions that work and with more MPs we can make sure supermarkets work for people, not profit,” says Ricardo Menéndez March.