The Greens' $25.1bn Plan to Nationalise Supermarkets, Explained
Max Chandler-Mather has proposed a $25.1bn, five-year plan to nationalise more than 200 Coles and Woolworths supermarkets.
Chandler-Mather is a former Greens MP and head of the party's think tank, the Greens Institute. The proposal, detailed by The Guardian, is modelled on New York mayor Zohran Mamdani's plan for publicly owned grocery stores.
Nationalise means move from private to public ownership. The plan has two parts. The first is forced divestiture laws — laws to force the transfer of major supermarket sites and three distribution centres into public hands. The second is a build program to fund 424 new supermarkets and 10 distribution centres.
Together, the transferred and new stores would form a not-for-profit grocery network called Fair Go Grocers. Think of it as a public-school model for groceries, running alongside the private system. The goal is to take about 20% of market share from commercial operators.
On price, Chandler-Mather claims Fair Go Grocers would save shoppers up to 22% on the average shop, or $60 a week for a four-person household. The plan includes a statutory authority — a government body created by law — to set prices each month and set minimum wholesale rates for suppliers.
On funding, the federal government would pay capital costs including land, construction and acquisition. Stores would be placed in areas of highest need. Chandler-Mather says after the initial $25.1bn over five years, the stores would be self-funded with no extra taxpayer cash.
The New York plan is for five city-owned and subsidised grocery stores, one in each New York City borough, to open by 2029.
The Greens Institute commissioned YouGov to poll public support for publicly owned supermarkets in Australia. The poll found 84% strongly or somewhat supported trying them, while 16% somewhat or strongly opposed. Support was 88% among voters aged 25-34, 96% among Greens voters and 88% among women.
Newly elected Greens leader David Shoebridge welcomed the Fair Go Grocers proposal.
There is a trans-Tasman parallel. The New Zealand Greens promised to nationalise 120 Woolworths and Foodstuffs supermarkets, according to Newstalk ZB. The proposed government-owned chain is named KiwiMart. The plan is reported as costing $28 billion.
The broader context here is how the Greens want to fight on the economy. A think tank paper does not bind the party room, but it gives the leadership something concrete to point to. Shoebridge's welcome does that job. It endorses the direction while keeping distance on the detail.
In my view, three tests will decide whether this gets traction in Canberra. The first is the divestiture power. Forced transfer of operating stores and distribution centres is a different proposition to building new ones. Expect the legal design to get most of the attention from anyone who has to draft or scrutinise it.
Looking at what this means for the price promise, the statutory authority is doing the heavy lifting. Monthly price-setting plus minimum wholesale rates is an attempt to answer the obvious question: how do you cut shelf prices by 22% without squeezing farmers and suppliers. Whether that circle can be squared on the Institute's numbers is where Treasury types, the farm lobby and the retailers will all go first.
The broader context here for the politics is the polling. A YouGov survey commissioned by the proponent finding 84% support is useful for launching a debate. It is not a substitute for testing a funded, legislated model. Staffers will read the 88% figures for under-35s and women as targeting, not as a forecast of what happens once costings, acquisitions and compulsory powers are in the mix.
