A $25.1 billion plan would place more than 200 Coles and Woolworths supermarkets into public ownership, transforming them into government-run stores offering discounts of up to 30 per cent on essential groceries.
Former Greens MP Max Chandler-Mather, once known for his regular attacks on Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, is now leading the Greens-affiliated public policy think tank, the Green Institute.
He is calling on the government to introduce forced divestiture powers and launch a national supermarket chain, Fair Go Grocers. The initiative, he says, could cut the average family’s grocery bill by more than $3,000 a year.
The proposed laws would give competition regulators or the courts authority to order dominant companies to sell parts of their operations.
Under the proposal, the Federal Government would spend $25.1 billion over five years to purchase 200 Coles and Woolworths outlets, along with three distribution centres.
The investment would also fund the construction of 424 additional supermarkets and 10 distribution centres around the country.
The plan comes as Labor faces growing anger over the cost of groceries and follows New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s campaign for a network of publicly backed grocery stores to make food more affordable.
Chandler-Mather said Fair Go Grocers would operate as a publicly owned rival to Coles and Woolworths, cutting prices by as much as 30 per cent on staples such as fruit, vegetables, bread, milk and meat.
Former Greens MP Max Chandler-Mather (pictured) is proposing new forced divestiture powers to establish the national Fair Go Grocers supermarket chain
A recent poll found almost 80 per cent of Australians believed groceries had become harder to afford over the past year, while 38 per cent said they had skipped meals or eaten less
Green Institute modelling estimates households would pay an average of 22 per cent less during each grocery shop.
‘Kids are going to school hungry, families are skipping meals, people are cutting back on essentials – all because Labor has allowed Coles and Woolworths to jack up prices for extra profit, regardless of the human consequences,’ he said.
‘For half the cost of a single AUKUS submarine we could establish a national network of publicly owned supermarkets that would save families thousands of dollars on their groceries, break the supermarket duopoly and bring lasting cost of living relief to millions of Australians.
‘Australians are sick of being ripped off by profit-hungry Coles and Woolworths, while politicians in Canberra sit on their hands and people struggle to afford enough food to eat a proper meal.’
The proposal was unveiled three months after Labor’s anti-price-gouging laws took effect. Chandler-Mather said the measures had failed to produce meaningful savings at the checkout.
He accused Coles and Woolworths of price gouging and argued that a publicly owned supermarket network could reduce costs by removing the profit motive from essential food sales.
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‘Tinkering around the edges has failed,’ he said.
‘It’s common sense that if you want more affordable prices on essentials then you need to cut out the profit with public ownership.
‘Just like healthcare and education, food is essential to life. And just like Medicare and public schools, it’s time we had a public option for food.’
New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani (pictured) is advocating a network of city-backed grocery stores designed to reduce food costs for residents
Modelling shows a nationwide supermarket chain would save the average family more than $3,000 a year on groceries
Chandler-Mather, who earned a reputation as one of Anthony Albanese’s fiercest political opponents due to his regular jabs at the Prime Minister in Parliament
A national YouGov poll cited by the Green Institute found 84 per cent of Australians would support publicly owned supermarkets if they reduced grocery prices by cutting out profit margins.
The same survey found 62 per cent of voters, including 53 per cent of One Nation supporters, said they would be more likely to vote for a party that backed the proposal.
It also found 79 per cent of Australians said it had become harder to afford groceries over the past year, while 38 per cent reported skipping meals or eating less because of rising food costs.
Fair Go Grocers would aim to capture 20 per cent of the supermarket market and become cost-neutral within five years, with store revenue funding operating costs including wages and inventory.
According to the proposal, eliminating shareholder dividends, executive salaries, profit margins and marketing costs would allow the chain to sell groceries at substantially lower prices than Coles and Woolworths.
The plan comes as new Green Institute research found Coles’ profits had risen 58 per cent since 2019, while Woolworths’ profits had increased 41 per cent, even as real wages fell six per cent.
The New Zealand Greens have also proposed nationalising 120 supermarkets and establishing a new publicly owned grocery chain.
The proposal has reignited debate over so-called divestiture powers, which would allow regulators to seek court orders forcing dominant companies to sell parts of their businesses if they were found to have misused their market power.
In 2024, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese rejected a similar proposal from the Greens, saying Australia was ‘not the old Soviet Union’ after the party sought to give the ACCC the power to apply to courts for break-up orders.