The Green Party is calling on the Government to intervene in the supermarket duopoly dominating our supply of groceries following today’s report from the Commerce Commission.

“The greed of our supermarkets is coming at a severe cost to our communities. We need urgent intervention to ensure people are coming before profit,” says the Green Party’s spokesperson for commerce and consumer affairs, Ricardo Menéndez March.

“Everyone deserves to be able to put food on the table for their whānau. The food systems that support our society should ensure that these fundamental needs are prioritised over the profits of big corporations. 

“Today’s report further outlines what many of us already know: the current state of play in our supermarket sector is not really serving anyone aside from the shareholders of the duopoly that dominates our supply of groceries. 

“Successive Governments have let this situation slide deeper and deeper into disarray. The current Government must intervene and prevent our communities from suffering any further. 

“We cannot keep waiting for the current players to just do the right thing and behave in a more competitive way, this is wishful thinking. There is action we can and must take now to ensure our communities are getting a fair deal at the checkout. 

“The Government needs to break up the duopoly, force them to divest their subsidiary companies and target the corporate greed costing our communities. It could start by making sure any breaches to the standards we expect of our supermarkets are met with significant fines. 

“The Government could also take action by initiating an excess profits tax. The revenue could be used to resource alternatives to supermarkets such as urban food gardens, mahinga kai and papakāinga. The treatment of big corporates in Aotearoa, from supermarkets to banks and energy companies, has left our communities vulnerable to exploitation for private gain. Genuine tax and regulatory reform is needed to address this. 

“Food is a human right, it is high time we started treating it that way,” says Ricardo Menéndez March. 

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