1
00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:03,640
Speaker 1: I reckon. Nikola Willis is bluffing us. She's having a laugh.

2
00:00:03,760 --> 00:00:07,240
Speaker 1: She's not really going to take a sledgehammer to the supermarkets.

3
00:00:07,520 --> 00:00:10,799
Speaker 1: She has threatened to do this. She's having some consultants

4
00:00:10,800 --> 00:00:12,480
Speaker 1: come in and do some work on it, but she's

5
00:00:12,520 --> 00:00:15,000
Speaker 1: not serious about doing it. There are a couple of

6
00:00:15,000 --> 00:00:18,160
Speaker 1: reasons why not. Splitting up brands like Pack and Save

7
00:00:18,200 --> 00:00:21,120
Speaker 1: and New World from each other is a pretty drastic

8
00:00:21,360 --> 00:00:24,119
Speaker 1: action to take. It could affect hundreds of Mum and

9
00:00:24,200 --> 00:00:26,840
Speaker 1: Dad's store owners who run their own local supermarkets and

10
00:00:26,880 --> 00:00:29,360
Speaker 1: form part of the co op around the country. Then

11
00:00:29,360 --> 00:00:32,520
Speaker 1: there's the problem of prices. The fact that co ops

12
00:00:32,600 --> 00:00:35,880
Speaker 1: like food stuffs exist mean they can spread their costs

13
00:00:35,920 --> 00:00:39,519
Speaker 1: around the country and make prices more even between the regions.

14
00:00:40,159 --> 00:00:44,160
Speaker 1: What happens to the price of Pam's biscuits at Pack

15
00:00:44,200 --> 00:00:47,599
Speaker 1: and Save in Rotadua? If you split this store from

16
00:00:47,600 --> 00:00:50,960
Speaker 1: its brother and sister stores, does the price come down

17
00:00:51,040 --> 00:00:53,800
Speaker 1: or does the price go up? If it goes up, so,

18
00:00:54,440 --> 00:00:58,520
Speaker 1: if it goes up, then Nicholas's credibility goes down. Equally,

19
00:00:58,640 --> 00:01:04,760
Speaker 1: splitting retail from wholesale risks creating a middleman that goes

20
00:01:04,840 --> 00:01:08,959
Speaker 1: between the two thus pushing prices up. Anyway, these are

21
00:01:09,000 --> 00:01:12,920
Speaker 1: all arguments for why not, and there are arguments for four,

22
00:01:13,720 --> 00:01:16,680
Speaker 1: but at this stage they're not specific. They just prices

23
00:01:16,720 --> 00:01:19,800
Speaker 1: are too high, so we better do something. All of

24
00:01:19,800 --> 00:01:22,200
Speaker 1: this before you even get to the political support for

25
00:01:22,280 --> 00:01:25,319
Speaker 1: such a move, which obviously wouldn't involve the act Party

26
00:01:25,360 --> 00:01:27,640
Speaker 1: based on their comments today, so would need help from

27
00:01:27,680 --> 00:01:30,319
Speaker 1: across the Aisle. I think in the end the risks

28
00:01:30,360 --> 00:01:33,160
Speaker 1: will be too great, the benefits not clear enough for

29
00:01:33,280 --> 00:01:37,000
Speaker 1: Nikola to smash the supermarkets to smithereens. I also think

30
00:01:37,600 --> 00:01:40,880
Speaker 1: she knows this. She's hoping the threat is enough to

31
00:01:41,040 --> 00:01:44,720
Speaker 1: yield some results in the interim and go down well

32
00:01:44,800 --> 00:01:47,320
Speaker 1: with the public, who is sick of paying through the

33
00:01:47,360 --> 00:01:51,480
Speaker 1: nose for groceries every week at the checkout. For more

34
00:01:51,560 --> 00:01:54,880
Speaker 1: from Heather Duplessy, Allen Drive, listen live to news talks.

35
00:01:54,880 --> 00:01:58,080
Speaker 1: It'd be from four pm weekdays, or follow the podcast

36
00:01:58,160 --> 00:01:59,160
Speaker 1: on iHeartRadio.