Latest / Early Edition with Ryan Bridge / Sue Chetwin: Grocery Action Group Chair on NZ Initiative's plan to add competition to the grocery sector
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: Ryan Bread Many Jeland Initiative have come up with a
- 0:02Speaker 1: plan to bring competition to the grocery sector. They've drafted
- 0:05Speaker 1: up a bill for the government. Here you go on
- 0:07Speaker 1: a platter. They say that consents and rezoning processes need
- 0:11Speaker 1: to be streamlined with a pathway opened up for a
- 0:13Speaker 1: third retailer. So Chetwin's the Grocery Action Group with us
- 0:16Speaker 1: this morning. So good morning, good morning. What do you
- 0:20Speaker 1: make of this? No need to bash the heads of
- 0:22Speaker 1: these duopolies. You just actually get government out of the way.
- 0:27Speaker 2: Look, I think that this would be nice to have,
- 0:31Speaker 2: but you have to recognize that this report would have
- 0:34Speaker 2: been put out with the financial support of Willworth food
- 0:40Speaker 2: Stuff and Fonterra, who are really big supporters probably of
- 0:45Speaker 2: the status quo. So what our problem in New Zealand
- 0:51Speaker 2: is is not that we don't have enough land. We
- 0:55Speaker 2: have enough supermarkets, but what we have is too few operators.
- 1:01Speaker 2: We have too few competitors. And what this government has
- 1:04Speaker 2: seen is that we can't get a competitor because we're
- 1:09Speaker 2: paying the highest price to some of the highest prices
- 1:12Speaker 2: in the world because we have a lack of competition.
- 1:15Speaker 2: What we need is more competitors. And to get more competitors,
- 1:20Speaker 2: they probably have to look at forcing the existing the
- 1:24Speaker 2: incumbents to actually divest some of the stores that they have,
- 1:28Speaker 2: because we have plenty of super markets, we just don't
- 1:31Speaker 2: have enough operators.
- 1:33Speaker 1: You said there's enough land. Whenever anyone tries to build anything,
- 1:39Speaker 1: there is opposition. There's I mean there's a labor MP
- 1:41Speaker 1: in christ Church is trying to stop a supermarket being built.
- 1:44Speaker 1: I interviewed the former managing director of Costco. He said
- 1:47Speaker 1: the biggest problem was zoning for land and bringing his
- 1:51Speaker 1: supermarket here. So there is a problem there isn't there.
- 1:55Speaker 2: I think, as I said, I think this would be
- 1:57Speaker 2: a nice to have. But all all the land that
- 2:01Speaker 2: would have been useful for food and markets has in
- 2:04Speaker 2: the past being bought by will Web and food Stuffs,
- 2:09Speaker 2: food stuffs to stop others competing, and the Communist Commission
- 2:15Speaker 2: has stopped that behavior.
- 2:16Speaker 3: They've yeah, so so that land is now you think though,
- 2:22Speaker 3: so you think this is this report has actually just
- 2:24Speaker 3: been bought by the big dogs.
- 2:28Speaker 2: Look, I think it. I think it has. It's to
- 2:31Speaker 2: slow down any activity because Nikola Willis has definitely said
- 2:37Speaker 2: that she's looking at this and divestment is on the table.
- 2:43Speaker 2: They want to stop that happening because that would encourage
- 2:46Speaker 2: real competition. And even within this report they talk about,
- 2:50Speaker 2: you know, oh, freeing up land for twelve new players,
- 2:54Speaker 2: well twelve new are sorry, twelve twelve new stores. But
- 2:59Speaker 2: that's not going to cut mustard. I mean, thirty news
- 3:01Speaker 2: stores wouldn't cut the mustard. Now we're talking about allowing
- 3:05Speaker 2: competition to come into this country at scale fast, so
- 3:09Speaker 2: that actually means divestment.
- 3:11Speaker 1: So appreciate your Timesponling Seedshipwin Grosser Reaction Group for more
- 3:17Speaker 1: from Early Edition with Ryan Bridge. Listen live to News
- 3:20Speaker 1: Talks at b from five am weekdays, or follow the
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