From the Guardian · · 2m
Greens pitch $25bn plan to nationalise supermarkets
Max Chandler-Mather proposes taking over 200 Coles and Woolworths stores and opening 424 new government-run grocers to cut prices by up to 22%.
In brief
Max Chandler-Mather proposes taking over 200 Coles and Woolworths stores and opening 424 new government-run grocers to cut prices by up to 22%. The Australian Greens propose a twenty five point one billion dollar plan to nationalise over two hundred supermarkets and open four hundred twenty four new government-run…
Greens plan supermarket takeover
Max Chandler-Mather, head of the Green Institute, proposes nationalising more than two hundred Coles and Woolworths supermarkets and three distribution centres under a twenty five billion dollar plan.
New government grocery chain
The government would fund four hundred twenty four new supermarkets and ten distribution centres, creating a non-profit network called Fair Go Grocers that would take about twenty percent of the market share.
Savings of up to 22%
Chandler-Mather says Fair Go Grocers would save consumers as much as twenty two percent on the average shop, or sixty dollars a week for a four-person household, with heavy discounts on essentials.
Price-setting authority
A statutory authority would set prices monthly and minimum wholesale rates for suppliers, with members including experts in supermarket operations, nutrition, food science and farming.
Initial cost and comparison
The plan costs twenty five point one billion dollars over five years but would be self-funded after that. By comparison, the federal government currently spends about twenty four billion dollars each year on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme.
Chandler-Mather's case for action
Chandler-Mather says kids go to school hungry and families skip meals because Labor allowed Coles and Woolworths to raise prices for profit. He argues food is essential, like healthcare and education.
“Just like healthcare and education, food is essential to life. And just like Medicare and public schools, it's time we had a public option for food.”
Strong public support in polling
YouGov polling commissioned by the Green Institute found eighty four percent of voters strongly or somewhat supported publicly owned supermarkets, with strongest support among voters aged twenty five to thirty four at eighty eight percent.
Shoebridge backs the proposal
Newly elected Greens leader David Shoebridge welcomed the plan, saying publicly owned supermarkets with cheaper food are wildly popular because they make people's lives better and address the dread of shopping.
“A publicly owned supermarket with cheaper food is wildly popular, because it makes people's lives better.”
Here's the gist
The Australian Greens propose a twenty five point one billion dollar plan to nationalise over two hundred supermarkets and open four hundred twenty four new government-run stores, claiming it would cut grocery costs by up to twenty two percent.
