Four parties now want to reshape the grocery sector, National wants screens out of early childhood centres, NZ First has unveiled a prevention-focused health plan, ACT wants farming to be “fun again” and the Greens want councils to auction empty shop leases, writes Henry Oliver in today’s excerpt from The Bulletin.

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This weekend, Labour revealed its plan to increase grocery competition by targeting the wholesale side of the market. RNZ’s Giles Dexter reported that the party would, if elected, require Foodstuffs and Woolworths to operate their wholesale businesses separately from their retail arms, guarantee smaller stores access to wholesale goods, and remove restraint of trade rules that stop retailers like Four Square from cutting prices.

Chris Hipkins said the difficulty even The Warehouse had faced in accessing wholesale showed change was needed, pointing to small businesses around the country that want to compete but can’t get the supply to do it. Commerce and consumer affairs spokesperson Arena Williams, announcing the policy at an Upper Hutt grocer, said Labour wanted wholesalers to behave like any other business and compete to win retail customers.

National is campaigning on splitting Foodstuffs, subject to a Commerce Commission review. Nicola Willis said Labour’s plan was light on detail, pointing to a 2022 commission market study that found separating wholesale and retail operations was not necessary or desirable, and to a later independent assessment that called wholesale ownership separation fundamentally flawed. She said Labour was announcing an intervention first and working out the consequences later. Williams acknowledged the commission had identified potential problems but said Labour’s policy addressed them.

Act leader David Seymour was blunt, telling RNZ the policy was unworkable and would need a bureaucracy larger than the one that already exists to decide what a fair price is. He said Act’s alternative – making it easier to get consent for a new supermarket – was less flashy but more honest. The Greens’ Chlöe Swarbrick said she was pleased to see both Labour and National wanting structural change, but argued neither went as far as the party’s own state-owned KiwiMart proposal.

Fewer screens, more checks

National would ban screen use of any type in early childhood education and heavily restrict it in years 1 to 3, The Post’s Henry Cooke reported. Education spokeswoman Erica Stanford announced the “Set Up for Success” policy with Christopher Luxon yesterday, alongside clearer developmental reports for parents.

Reporting by RNZ’s Tuwhenuaroa Natanahira shows a mixed reception from early childhood advocates. Advocates for Early Learning Excellence chair Kelly Seaburg welcomed the reporting element, saying New Zealand has a world-class curriculum but that it is reported back to parents inconsistently. University of Auckland’s Kiri Gould told RNZ a blanket ban risked oversimplifying what technology can offer, and said the better question was how devices are used and whether they support relationships, play and exploration. She was also cautious about the School Start Check, noting Te Whāriki already sets deliberately broad outcomes and that the system seemed to be moving towards standardising what children should know by a certain age.

‘Make NZ Healthy’ (Again?)

NZ First has released a health policy promising what it calls a bold shift from treating illness to preventing it, 1News reports. The plan centres on metabolic health and nutrition, and includes embedding good nutrition in the curriculum, an independent review of dietary guidelines, funding research into nutrition and mental illness, and a review of vitamin D.

It also pledges hospital trials of intravenous vitamin C before and after surgery, removing Medsafe and Pharmac barriers to what it calls recognised safe nutrients, letting patients make their own health decisions, reducing admin for GPs, and better conditions and mental health support for nurses. A spokesperson said other parties focus on spending more on medicines rather than preventing the causes of illness.

Make farming ‘fun again’

In the second MAGA-coded (in branding at least) policy release of the weekend, Act launched an agriculture policy it’s calling “making farming fun again,” the Herald’s Julia Gabel reports. Agriculture spokesman Andrew Hoggard said he wanted his daughters, should they choose farming, to have the freedom to farm without the red tape he has had to deal with.

The policy includes ending Te Mana o Te Wai, the freshwater protection framework, along with what the party describes as “other vague spiritual concepts”. It would also abolish the Climate Change Commission, repeal the Zero Carbon Act, get rid of the Net Zero Target, and ensure agriculture is never brought back into the emissions trading scheme. Funding for rural catchment groups would rise by $4.5m a year, penalties for illegal dumping would increase, and targeted grazing would be permitted on suitable DOC land. Fun!

The rent (for shops) is too damn high

The Greens would let councils run rental auctions on shops and business spaces left empty for more than a year, the Herald reports. Landlords would get an eight-week grace period to find their own tenant and could appeal if they planned to redevelop or occupy the premises themselves.

The party would also require market rent reviews to be able to decrease as well as increase, ban reviews triggered only by landlords, and create a low-cost pathway for lease disputes. Swarbrick said filling main streets with local businesses brings more people into towns and makes cities safer.