Greens use Giralang debacle to call for supermarket policy revamp

The Greens’ Caroline Le Couteur has used today’s Giralang shops call in to declare we need a better supermarket policy:

we are most concerned that this decision has been made in the absence of a supermarket policy with any teeth.

“The Government’s Supermarket Competition Policy was developed with the best of intentions, but unfortunately, it is a policy without any clear means for implementation in the planning system, especially for existing suburbs.

“It is very frustrating that the Government committed to investigating the application of a floorspace dominance test for new supermarkets in January this year, but nothing has come of it yet, and instead they have just approved a supermarket of 1667m2 – larger than the normal local supermarket of less than 1000m2. By way of comparison Ainslie IGA is 1300m2.

“The lack of clear policy for ACTPLA to apply to existing sites makes it difficult for them to make decisions with good supermarket competition policy outcomes.

“The fact that this call-in comes in the middle of ACTPLA’s review of Commercial Codes, which directly addresses what the rules around local centres should be, makes a mockery of both the consultation process, and the supermarket policy.