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Well, Mike Hosking did a Kim Kardashian this morning and broke the Internet with his interview with Nicola Willis. Well, not actually the internet, but they're back and forward on the need to increase competition in the supermarket sector – 10 minutes and 17 seconds that interview went on for. Unheard of on breakfast radio! Put Mike Hosking in a print frock and sensible shoes and call him Kathryn Ryan. 10:17 on something that might or might not happen, and might or might not be needed. I really don't understand the passion, and the fervour, and the ‘I will die on this hill’ attitude that our Finance Minister is taking towards getting another competitor into the country. Nicola Willis seems to think her reforms are the answer to the prayers of beleaguered New Zealanders, and she will not rest until she's provided competition in every main centre in New Zealand.  

MH: When is this reform going to materially change my supermarket shop?  

NW: When you've got nationwide a competitor in all of the major urban centres, that is making the big guys change their behaviour. Now this is a problem that built up over 20 to 30 years and I have never promised they'll be an overnight solution. But the alternative point of view is to say, well, because it will take a while, just don't bother. And I think that is a reprehensible way to approach government.  

Right. And then she went on and she wasn't going to rest, and if it took 25 years, and she didn't care about votes, and on and on it went. But competitors have looked at the New Zealand market – the big internationals have taken one look at us and dismissed us as total minnows. We're not worth getting out of bed for, far less crossing an ocean and setting up shop for. When you look at our ALDI, who's often mentioned, ALDI has 20 million shoppers in the UK and that's 10% of the market. They have four New Zealand's worth of shoppers and that's 10% of the UK market. They've looked at us, other supermarkets and huge international brands have looked at us and thought you've got to be joking.  

And when it comes to the unfair practises within New Zealand, the Commerce Commission looked at unfair practises within the sector under the last government and they recommended things that could be changed, and changes were made. If you look at the land banking that used to go on of valuable sites to shut out competitors, that wasn't fair and that wasn't right, so that's been changed. They also looked at the complex pricing strategies, promotions, and customer loyalty programmes and said, well, makes it very complex, makes it difficult for consumers. They looked at the imbalance of power in the retail supplier relationships. Many suppliers like your lettuce suppliers, your tomato suppliers, your peanut butter suppliers are reliant on both Foodstuffs and Woolworths, the two big players, so the two retailers can transfer certain costs and risk and uncertainty onto suppliers and if they complain, they face the risk of their products being taken off store shelves. I think there's still room for improvement on that. I don't know because the suppliers won't talk because they again run the risk of having their products taken off the shelves.  

So, yes, some improvements have been made. A Grocery Commission has been appointed, and in the main centres, we do have some form of competition. I heard Chris Quin this morning talking to Mike, saying that in Auckland, 30% of grocery retailers are independents. They are “other”. You’ve got Foodstuffs and Woolworths, but 30% is other. And you know, we've heard around the country that other little suppliers set up and they're never going to take on the big two head on, but they're making inroads. I just don't understand and clearly, it's me, I'm the problem, it's me, as that great poet Taylor Swift once said. I'm the problem, it's me, because successive governments have decided this is so important that they've set up review, after review, after review to look at the practises of the big two. And sure, the Commerce Commission under the last government did find things, but do people really care that much that Nicola Willis mounted an impassioned, fervent, incredibly eloquent attack on supermarkets in defence of the consumer? We haven't got enough people to entice competitors here. If we did, then they'd come. I mean, short of subsidising a bloody competitor, I don't know what more can be done. What am I missing? Please tell me.