ACT Party proposes ‘one-stop consenting shop’ for new supermarket entrants, leader David Seymour says current pathway is ‘too complex and too costly for entrants to take the risk’

If elected into government, the ACT Party plans to create a “one-stop consenting shop” for new supermarket entrants.

Launching the party’s supermarket policy on Monday, ACT leader David Seymour said it would focus on the barriers that make it hard for new competitors to enter the New Zealand market.

ACT has been critical of other political parties’ supermarket policies, with Seymour saying other parties were “destroying investor confidence by proposing break-ups, price controls, or state-run alternatives”.

Supermarkets have been a hot topic in the lead up to November’s election.

New Zealand First has proposed to break up the supermarket duopoly of Woolworths and Foodstuffs while the Greens want to establish a publicly owned supermarket chain called KiwiMart, which has a mandate to prioritise affordability for consumers.

The Green Party would do this by divesting at least 120 stores and distribution centre capacity into public ownership to establish KiwiMart. Labour wants to require Woolworths and Foodstuffs to run wholesale supply businesses independently from their supermarket stores.

National has proposed, subject to an independent Commerce Commission assessment, the structural separation of Foodstuffs - breaking the co-operative up into two competing grocery chains. National's proposal has been met with criticism from business lobby groups like BusinessNZ and the Employers and Manufacturers Association

‘None of this pile on mentality has made life more affordable’

“Politicians hear a complaint and try to play the hero by attacking a group of New Zealanders as the scapegoat of the hour,” Seymour said.

“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.”

“None of this pile on mentality has made life more affordable,” Seymour said.

Currently, the pathway for new entrants was “too complex” and “too costly for entrants to take the risk”, he said, saying people had to deal with dozens of regulators pointing to the likes of the Commerce Commission, Ministry of Primary Industries, Inland Revenue, WorkSafe and local councils.

“And then there's resource consent. To open one new supermarket in New Zealand, on average, you are looking at two years and a million dollars before you’ve laid a brick."

“ACT would create a one-stop consenting shop for new market entrants - a single point where a business looking to open, or open multiple sites, can get their consents, their liquor licences, their approvals, in months, not years," Seymour said.

“A one-stop shop means the next entrepreneur who wants to build the next Kai Co doesn't need a team of consultants and two years of patience just to get out of the starting blocks.”

Alongside this, ACT also announced it would allow food labels for “trusted regulatory systems” like the UK, EU and US by default, with Seymour saying: “This will lower the barrier to entry for international supermarkets, who will no longer need to do expensive runs of products specifically for the tiny Australasian market to open stores.”

“When the Government signals that successful businesses can simply be broken apart, potential new entrants are less likely to invest here."

“Rather than joining the race to the bottom where we attack successful businesses, ACT’s policy is to make it easier for new businesses to come here, compete, and expand," he said.