KiwiMart must go in the bin next to KiwiBuild
The Green Party’s answer to high grocery prices is to put taxpayers on the hook for a $2.8 billion Government-owned supermarket, National’s Finance spokesperson Nicola Willis says.
“The last thing Kiwi shoppers need is a Soviet-style Government-owned supermarket chain run by Chris Hipkins, Chloe Swarbrick and their mates.
“The Greens claim ‘KiwiMart’ would be ‘commercially viable’, but a taxpayer-owned supermarket with an affordability mandate doesn’t face the same commercial discipline as a private competitor.
“If ‘KiwiMart’ is able to operate commercially, there’s no obvious reason why taxpayers need to own it. If the numbers don’t stack up, the Crown and taxpayers wear the risk.
“The Greens also need to explain how this fits with their proposed ban on ‘excessive pricing’. If it believes it can legislate prices down, why do taxpayers also need to spend $2.8 billion buying a supermarket?
“Ultimately, this policy doesn’t make the costs of running a supermarket disappear. It just shifts the commercial risk onto taxpayers.
“This sort of dystopian vision belongs in the bin alongside KiwiBuild and the many other grandiose failures by Labour and the Greens.
“National’s approach is to fix the barriers that have stopped genuine competitors entering and expanding in New Zealand.
“Our Government has made it easier to consent new supermarkets, opened the door to new investment and competitors, strengthened competition settings, and explored structural reform of the existing supermarket groups.
“Chris Hipkins needs to say whether Labour would support spending $2.8 billion of taxpayers’ money establishing a government-owned supermarket, and whether this is what New Zealanders could expect from a Labour-Greens Government.”
