Editorial: New Zealanders waiting on Government action on food bills, cost of living crisis

Grocery bills continue to climb but what exactly is the Government doing about it? Photo / 123rf

OPINION

Rats peeking out of shelves in some supermarkets, mice running around the aisles in others, pigeons helping themselves to the pick ‘n’ mix – all of these have made headlines in New Zealand over the past few days. While those are legitimate news stories and definitely need addressing, a much more pressing issue with grocery stores across the country remains: food prices are increasingly unaffordable.

Food price inflation returned in January with Stats NZ reporting last week that monthly food prices increased by 0.9 per cent.

“Food prices increased both monthly and annually,” said Stats NZ consumer prices manager James Mitchell.

You may not have seen a mouse in a supermarket yet but, like many New Zealanders, your grocery bill will have ballooned over the past few years. I’m not loyal to any particular brand and I’m a sucker for a good promotion and try to do what they tell me and “shop smarter” but, even using all the hacks, the food budget keeps on climbing.

A mouse infestation is easy enough to sort out, there are pest control companies who know exactly what to do about it. But never mind the mice, what is being done to control the rising cost of groceries in supermarkets?

So far, it seems not much at all.

Last week, Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi’s bill to have GST removed from food in New Zealand was drawn out of the biscuit tin, which means it is headed for parliamentary discussion.

The bill, which aims to remove GST from all foods and non-alcoholic beverages, will be introduced to the House and go through its first reading and vote.

“Food is a right and a necessity that should never be taxed, especially during a cost of living crisis that a government is failing to address,” Waititi said, calling the fact the bill was drawn out of the tin a “radical shake-up of the taxation system that this country needs”.

“The regressive nature of GST is one that will always hurt low-income families the hardest,” he added.

While it is a strong step in the right direction, it is also a few hurdles away from potentially becoming law and, even if it did, we’d be at the mercy of the good faith of the supermarket giants and the belief that they would not rush to put their prices up once GST was off – and considering the Commerce Commission has opened an investigation into the supermarket majors following an allegation of Fair Trading Act breaches, no one can blame us for having reservations.

Much has been written about the supermarket duopoly in New Zealand but not a whole lot has been done. New Zealanders, particularly lower and middle income, need urgent decisive action from the Government to address the rising cost of living (so far, we’ve arguably had the opposite).

“What can the Government do about it?” you may wonder. That’s what they’re elected – and handsomely paid – to figure out. And they need to do it now, if not sooner.