ACT leader David Seymour wants a fast-track for new supermarket companies

Sunday, 13 July 2025

ACT leader David Seymour speaks after his party's annual general meeting on Sunday, July 13, 2025.

ACT leader David Seymour says new supermarket companies should be fast-tracked through consenting and approval processes to increase competition in the grocery sector.

The deputy prime minister delivered the policy pitch, which is not Government policy, in a headline speech at an ACT Party “rally”, or annual general meeting, on Sunday afternoon.

“When people are driving across the country just to buy butter at Costco in Auckland, it’s a clear sign something’s broken,” Seymour said, in a speech to the party faithful at the party “rally”.

“We can’t control global dairy prices, but we can create an environment where more retailers want to set up shop, bringing real competition to the grocery sector.”

ACT leader David Seymour at the ACT Party annual general meeting in Auckland.

The Coalition Government has been concerned about a lack of competition in the supermarket sector, which is dominated by two firms, Foodstuffs (which has separate North and South Island entities), and Woolworths.

The pair hold roughly 90% of market share for consumers between the two of them, according to a study into the grocery sector by the Commerce Commission in March 2022.

While some reforms have taken place in recent years, such as the establishment of a grocery code of conduct and a Grocery Commissioner, Finance Minister Nicola Willis in March suggested the current market players could be broken up.

Willis also put out an official request for information for any third players interested in entering the market.

Seymour in his speech said this was a good move and something ACT “has been saying for at least three years”.

But, as leader of a libertarian party, he has previously expressed caution about any break up of the supermarket firms, which would be a heavy intervention in the market.

Speaking of the grocery sector in his speech, he said: “We should state to the world that New Zealand is a safe place to invest.”

“Your property rights will be respected, because the Government makes laws carefully. We will not be forcibly separating your business or forcing you to sell to your competitors.”

He said the Government should make the grocery code “go both ways”, claiming in attempting to protect fruit growers in central Otago, it also prevented the supermarkets for negotiating aggressively with multinational firms like Coca-Cola and Unilever.

ACT leader David Seymour gave a headline speech at the 'rally', and ACT brought on stage American author Dr James Lindsay, who spoke about the importance of private property rights to a liberal society, at the party’s rally on Sunday.

The Labour Government’s grocery commissioner and competition law should be scrapped for requiring “endless monitoring” and causing “millions of dollars” a year in costs paid for by the “long-suffering consumer”.

Instead, a “one-stop-shop” law, similar to the existing and contentious fast-track law, should be created to give total consent to supermarket companies wanting to build ten or more outlets. Liquor licences would also be granted automatically.

“If we want the Walmarts, Aldis and Tescos of the world to come here, we need to give them a reason to set up shop. This fast-track process sends a message to them that New Zealand welcomes competition and that they won’t be tied up in red tape by coming here,” Seymour said.

He said even if this did not bring new competitors into the market “the possibility of a new competitor can help keep competitive pressure on the incumbents”.

Seymour spoke at the end of the party rally, in which over more than an hour the party’s MPs delivered speeches about their work in Government.

The keynote speech was given by Dr James Lindsay, an American author and critic of “woke” culture, identity politics, and “absolutist” for free speech.