More than 200 Coles and Woolworths supermarkets would be nationalised and hundreds of government-owned grocery stores opened under a $25.1bn proposal from the Greens Institute, the party's thinktank.
Former Greens MP Max Chandler-Mather, who leads the institute, said the plan would use forced divestiture laws to take over major supermarket sites and three distribution centres. The government would fund another 424 new supermarkets and 10 distribution centres, giving the non-profit network about 20% of the commercial market.
A new statutory authority would set prices monthly and minimum wholesale rates for suppliers, with members including experts in supermarket operations, nutrition and food science, and farming. The federal government would cover capital costs including land, construction and acquisition, with stores located in areas of highest need. Chandler-Mather says the stores would become self-funding after the initial $25.1bn over five years.
"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.
"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."
Chandler-Mather said the new stores, called Fair Go Grocers, would save consumers as much as 22% on an average shop, or $60 a week for a four-person household, with heavy discounts on essentials including fruit and vegetables, bread, milk and meat.
The proposal echoes a plan by New York City council member Zohran Mamdani for five publicly owned grocery stores, which has already drawn a lawsuit from a local business group. The New Zealand Greens have also proposed nationalising 120 supermarkets under a publicly owned chain.