The Green Institute, the official research institute for the Australian Greens, has released a new plan to create a national network of publicly owned supermarkets.

Proposed as a competitor to Coles and Woolworths, Fair Go Grocers would be a full-service supermarket that would offer 30% discounts (compared to Coles and Woolworths prices) on essentials like fruit and vegetables, bread, milk and meat. It would offer smaller discounts across all other store items. 

Under the proposal, a federal government investment of $25.1 billion over five years would be used to forcibly acquire 200 Coles and Woolworths stores and three distribution centres – and to fund the construction of another 424 stores and 10 distribution centres nationwide. Fair Go Grocers would aim to reach 20% market share for supermarkets.

“For half the cost of a single AUKUS submarine we could establish a national network of publicly owned supermarkets that would save families thousands of dollars on their groceries, break the supermarket duopoly and bring lasting cost of living relief to millions of Australians,” says Green Institute Executive Director Max Chandler-Mather.

The Institute says store revenue would fund operational costs including wages and inventory, with Fair Go Grocers to be cost neutral after five years. It believes this arrangement, together with the elimination of the profit margin, executive salaries, shareholder payments and marketing costs, would slash the chain’s costs to “far below” Coles and Woolworths.

Backed by Australians

The proposal was released alongside a YouGov poll commissioned by the Green Institute.

This found 84% of surveyed Australians would support rolling out publicly owned supermarkets to reduce the price of groceries by cutting out the profit. When asked, 62% of all surveyed voters, including 53% of One Nation voters, said they would be more likely to vote for a party that proposed the idea of publicly owned supermarkets.

In other findings, since the anti-price gouging laws came into effect on 1 July, 90% of surveyed Australians have noticed no improvement in the cost of groceries at the supermarket.

Separate research from the Institute found that since 2019, the profits of Coles and Woolworths have surged by 58% and 41% respectively while real wages have declined by 6%. 

“Australians are sick of being ripped off by profit-hungry Coles and Woolworths, while politicians in Canberra sit on their hands and people struggle to afford enough food to eat a proper meal,” says Mr Chandler-Mather.

“The vast majority of Australians get what apparently the political class don’t – Coles and Woolworths are price gouging, tinkering around the edges has failed, and a publicly owned supermarket would cut out the profit and lower prices. 

“It’s common sense that if you want more affordable prices on essentials then you need to cut out the profit with public ownership.

“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.”