Labour MP Willie Jackson has suggested price regulations as a possible option to address cost-of-living pressures, but also says it is not his party’s policy.
The Government this week announced several steps it’s taking to remove barriers to companies setting up new supermarket chains nationally, including introducing a fast-track option for stores that improve grocery competition.
Economic Growth Minister Nicola Willis is still exploring restructuring options for the country’s current grocery duopoly, Woolworths and Foodstuffs. She said such a significant intervention carries costs and risks that need to be weighed against potential benefits.
Appearing on Herald NOW on Friday morning, Jackson said that was something the previous Labour Government looked at. That administration made a handful of changes, such as introducing a Grocery Commissioner, but didn’t go as far as divestment.
He believed Labour “created an environment where prices started to come down”.
“Prices have come down,” he said, something disputed by National’s Paul Goldsmith, who was featuring alongside him.
Jackson said, “just building more supermarkets is not the way to go”.
“People want relief now. They want price relief now. ‘Oh, we will build another supermarket’, that is great, the duopoly loves that.
“How about doing what you said you were going to do, which was address the cost of living, and looking at prices and maybe regulating prices because it is out of control and people are suffering.”
Host Ryan Bridge picked up on the point about regulating supermarket prices.
Jackson said: “These guys should be looking at something like that.”
Goldsmith said: “I think the Soviets tried that at one point and it didn’t do very well”.
Jackson interjected, appearing to backtrack: “I am not saying we’ll do that.”
When Bridge asked if Jackson would regulate butter prices, the Labour MP didn’t answer and instead asked the host whether he knew what the price of butter was.
Price regulation refers to measures taken by a regulator or government departments to control pricing decisions, often to ensure affordability.
The Herald asked Labour whether it was the party’s policy to regulate supermarket prices and why Jackson had initially suggested this.
“I suggested regulation as something the Government could look at to provide Kiwis with some relief,” Jackson said in a statement.
“It is not Labour policy, our policy will be released before the election. It seems like this Government needs some ideas because they are doing nothing despite having the power to act.”
The response did not answer another question about what evidence there was Labour created an environment where prices started to come down.
Stats NZ figures show food price annual percentage change of up to 12.5% in the final year of the Labour Government. That happened in June 2023.
The rate of increase dropped off from that point but there wasn’t a percentage decrease until June 2024. It has increased each month since then, hitting 4.6% in June this year.
The rest of Jackson’s statement spoke about efforts Labour had taken to create a more affordable grocery sector.
“Because of Labour, Commerce Commission now has the power to take the supermarkets to court over unfair pricing practices like misleading specials,” he said.
“This will see unfair pricing stamped out over time, but the Government needs to keep coming down hard or the duopoly will work out ways to get around Labour’s rules.”
Goldsmith said more competition was necessary and believed the fast-track approach would help new competitors enter the market.
“There are some practical difficulties about building a new supermarket to compete against the incumbents, so we are going to make that easier.
“In the long-term that is going to make the big difference. Even in the short-term, it puts more pressure on the incumbents and that is what we need to do.”
Among other steps announced by Willis this week was streamlining building consent processes for grocery development that would enable competition regionally or nationally and improving provisions to combat predatory pricing.
The potential restructuring of the two big players has been discussed as a possible last resort option for years.
Willis didn’t put a timeline on when she may have more to say on this.
“A decision to restructure the supermarkets is not a decision that would be taken lightly. It would be a significant intervention that would carry costs and risks that would need to be rigorously weighted against the potential benefits to shoppers,” Willis said on Wednesday.
“A cost-benefit analysis is under way on specific options for restructuring the duopoly and will inform future advice I intend to take to Cabinet on whether further legislative changes are required to improve competition.”
Jamie Ensor is a political reporter in the NZ Herald press gallery team based at Parliament. He was previously a TV reporter and digital producer in the Newshub press gallery office. In 2025, he was a finalist for Political Journalist of the Year at the Voyager Media Awards.