A Green Party policy would build a national food strategy to cut New Zealand’s dependence on imported food and prioritise local produce in public procurement, agriculture spokesperson Steve Abel says.

“The explicit mandate of KiwiMart will be affordable food,” Abel says. The publicly owned supermarket would give local producers locked out of the duopoly a third buyer, he says.

Building new stores was rejected because it would leave the market with too many outlets, says Abel. “The most reasonable way to do it is to… actually take over existing stores, but to fully compensate those current owners.”

He says the Greens would also give the Commerce Commission more power to intervene on price gouging that shortchanges suppliers.

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