Latest / Early Edition with Ryan Bridge / Ernie Newman: Grocery Policy Expert on the Government seeking advice, on breaking up the supermarket duopoly

Transcript

Ernie Newman: Grocery Policy Expert on the Government seeking advice, on breaking up the supermarket duopoly · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: So was this an announcement of an announcement? I don't know.
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: This is of course, Nichola willis wanting to do something
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: about supermarkets, so she's looking at a third entrance into
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: the grocery sector to break up the duopoly. But there's
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: no third entrant in say it in a cost of fortune.
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: She's also suggested maybe breaking up the groups, and she's
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: also suggested separating retail from wholesale, so she set up
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: a six week process requesting information from the sector and
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: grocery policy expert Ernie Newman joins it, good morning to
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: you again, Ernie, Ryan, I had stickens here. I'm afraid.
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: Oh sorry, I'll beg your pardon.
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: I don't know. Ryan's back in a couple of weeks.
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: Don't you worry about that? Is this whole thing? Words?
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: Or will something happen?
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: Well, I've had to eat my words to be quiet, Horus,
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: because I was a bit skeptical going into the announcement yesterday.
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: But Ellan and Nichola Willison has come through as a
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: minister on a mission, and I've been enormously impressed with
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: her language and her determination and the homework she's done.
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: You know, she's almost taking her political career in something here.
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: So I'm feeling a lot more optimistic than I was
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: twenty four hours ago.
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: But come on, Honestly, if she tries to break up
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: a supermarket chain, if she tries to take the fresh
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: values off and make them in other hands, the supermarkets
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: who have got a lot of thing, they're going to
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: fight this tooth and nail.
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: Of course, they will, just like Telecom dies back in
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: the day. But you know, the Telecom breakup happened largely
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: because there was a lot of public anger about their
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: bullying behavior, and there was political agreement that something needed
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: to be done. But I think we're on the trek
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: here for you know, pretty much political agreement to the
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: main parties at least that this has to be fixed,
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: and has to be fixed thoroughly.
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: Cold. So also, the hunt for a third entrant is
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: that desperate because really it's going to cost so much money.
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: There's no property there. They're going to buy the property,
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: they're going to buy the chain for supply. Is that
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: a reality?
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: Think it is not in not in the present situation,
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: because you know, you've got a you've got a marketplace
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: here that is populated by bullies, and nobody has done
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: anything up until now to really hold them to account.
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: But I think now that we have the determination from
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: no one less than the Finance Minister and her party
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: to deal with this situation. You know, to start up
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: in New Zealand is not that huge. We're a lot
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: of big country and I think if international operators can
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: see a fair deal and an even playing field when
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: they get here, the amount of money involved is not great.
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: It also doesn't have to be international, you know, we
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: we do have the potential for something local.
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: Absolutely Okay, Ernie, I thank you so much for more.
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: From Early Edition with Ryan Bridge.
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: Listen live to News Talks it be from five am weekdays,
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.