Labour boosts cynical race to bottom with supermarket policy

“Labour’s announcement today confirms ACT’s diagnosis that a disease has set into New Zealand politics, with every other party now competing to scare off investment by threatening interventions much worse than the oil and gas ban,” says ACT Leader David Seymour.

“The Greens want to expropriate supermarkets and run it themselves. National have joined New Zealand First in wanting to forcibly break up legitimate businesses, and now Labour want to add a whole new layer of bureaucracy to their own version of expropriation.

“The oil and gas ban was devastating, but the Government has a right to stop issuing permits, however disruptive that may have been. It is quite another matter to actively break up and take over existing companies.

“Labour’s policy is an echo of their actions in Government, only more pernicious. Last time they put in place a grocery supplier code, required supermarkets to wholesale to their competitors, and created a Grocery Commissioner. If any of their past interventions worked, they wouldn’t need to release these policies today.

“This time they want to expropriate the co-op that is owned by local Foodstuffs stores, and separate an Australian-owned business without considering the repercussions for our ANZAC relationship.

“On their best day these other policies might save a few dollars a week, and that day is far into the future. Ordinary food price inflation will cancel out the gains many times over before any shopper even sees them. On their worst day they will backfire and make groceries more expensive, according to their own reports.

“One factor that other politicians never consider is the effect of weakening New Zealand supermarket buying power against the large multi-nationals that provide around a quarter of their goods. Think Unilever, Proctor and Gamble, Nestlé, these companies are whales to New Zealand supermarkets’ tadpoles, and if the logic is to weaken New Zealand supermarkets’ power, the whales will win.

“The most likely outcome is simply costly restructures, more hesitancy to invest, and less chance of a third competitor entering New Zealand from overseas. Why would you take the risk when the political environment is so volatile. Why would anyone else think this behaviour will be confined to the grocery sector?

“ACT now stands alone for the simple idea this country was built on. The idea that people should be able to own property and profit from it if they do well, accepting the losses if they don’t. Business is difficult enough without worrying if your own Government will attack you any time politicians get a bad focus group.

“The disease of New Zealand politics today is cynical, focus-group driven, knee-jerk reactions to large problems. Politicians hear a complaint and try to play the hero by attacking a group of New Zealanders as the scapegoat of the hour.

“This politics erodes the trust and certainty needed for investment and innovation. It’s careless about the long-term effect on our country so long as those behind it think they’ll get a short-term political gain.

“We’ve seen it over and again these last six years as prices have risen as fast as, or faster than, wages. When petrol felt expensive, Jacinda said we were being ‘fleeced’ by the petrol stations. When rents went up, new taxes and regulations were put on landlords. When butter was in the news, it was Fonterra, then electricity companies, then banks, now supermarkets.

“None of this pile on mentality has made life more affordable. It’s usually ended with another layer of regulation and bureaucracy, such as the Grocery Commissioner and supplier code. New Zealand has simply been left divided and blame-happy by this pattern of political behaviour.

“New Zealanders are looking for hope, and security to build on that hope. That means tackling our long-term productivity slump, weak monetary policy, and loose Government spending that has seen prices inflate away ahead of wages. None of this is easy, but it is possible with sensible, thoughtful leadership.

“If we are serious about making life more affordable, there is no benefit in picking on a different group each year as if that will solve our problems.” ACT will:

•⁠ ⁠Shrink the size of Government by making it smaller and more efficient at delivering the services New Zealanders really need for a price this economy can afford

•⁠ ⁠Cut red tape and stupid rules that prevent New Zealanders from investing and innovating

•⁠ ⁠Unite New Zealanders where each of us are seen as fundamentally good and equal people instead of obsessing over identity politics.