In a bold move this weekend, the National Party has committed to its second supermarket breakup.
Last week, the party promised to break up supermarket giant Foodstuffs, separating Pak’nSave from New World, in a move that business leaders have described.
But now it’s pushing further, promising also to ensure that Woolworths and Pak’nSave are not owned by the same company.
In a press conference Thursday, Christopher Luxon – who is renting the prime ministership on a periodic lease – said that most New Zealanders found the idea of the two supermarket giants being owned by the same company to be “totally distasteful, frankly.”
“Look, I think [Finance Minister] Nicola [Willis] will lay it out to you more precisely, but we’re seeing in our own polling, kiwis say overwhelmingly they don’t want this. They don’t want the illusion of competition to be created by these two supermarkets – in this case Pakn’Save and Woolworths – being part of the same cooperative,” he said. “So what we’re saying today, very firmly, is that in our second term, we will ensure that isn’t the case.”
With that, he handed it over to Willis.
“Thank you Prime Minister,” said Willis, drawing a relieved nod from Luxon in affirmation he was still Prime Minister.
Willis proceeded to present a series of charts, demonstrating that internal polling showed that when asked the question “Should Pak’nSave and Woolworths be owned by the same company?” an overwhelming 87% of voters responded “No.”
When asked “Should Woolworths and IKEA and The Warehouse be owned by the same company?”, New Zealanders were even more emphatic. 91% responded “No.”
A flurry of questions followed. Luxon relaxed his shoulders. It was a good day. There had already been one question so far that was not about the leadership, and there were likely several more questions to come.
Okay, it was just the one in the end. Jason Walls. Of course. That’s okay. No matter.
“Alright team,” said Luxon, picking up his papers, a skip in his step. “See you next month.”
On the street, potential voters responded positively, with the vast majority agreeing with the party’s stance. They were, however, more divided on the fact of who was Prime Minister.
Business leaders were not so enthusiastic. Oliver Hartwitch, of the New Zealand Initiative, said the National Party’s position was alarming.
“It’s deeply concerning to hear the Finance Minister and also a senior cabinet member, Christopher Luxon, suggest that businesses may be subject to breakup and forced sales if market conditions don’t suit,” he said. “There is absolutely no reason that Woolworths and Pak’nSave and IKEA and the Warehouse and Four Square and Kmart and Fonterra and Spark and Air New Zealand and the Hornby Caltex shouldn’t be able to be owned by the same cooperative.”