Face of the Day

Cabinet has agreed to its next steps in its war on the country’s supermarket duopoly, set to be announced by the Finance Minister on Sunday.

Willis took over responsibility for the supermarket delegation this month, after newly appointed Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Scott Simpson proactively identified a conflict of interest, understood to be a close family member owning a supermarket.

Andrew Bayly had been doing the job but quit his ministerial warrants last month after an incident with a staffer in his office.

RNZ understands Willis, who is also Economic Growth Minister, will this weekend announce decisions taken by Cabinet to incentivise and encourage a third player into the market.

It’s required sign-off by Cabinet on several additional levers it can pull to improve access.

Those levers could be related to tax incentives or infrastructure assistance, for example, government-owned land being freed up at significant sites for a new operator.

While Willis has already indicated there is interest from businesspeople in New Zealand considering consolidating to create a supermarket chain, she has also been working on how to incentivise an international player entering the market.

NZ Herald