MEDIA RELEASE: Green Institute launches plan to create a publicly owned supermarket
New YouGov poll shows depth of food crisis
A national YouGov poll has found 84% of Australians would support rolling out publicly owned supermarkets to reduce the price of groceries by cutting out the profit. When asked, 62% of all voters, including 53% of One Nation voters, said they would be more likely to vote for a party that proposed the idea of publicly owned supermarkets.
The same poll found that 79% of Australians had said it was harder to afford groceries in the last 12 months, and more than one in three (38%) had skipped meals or eaten less due to the cost of food.
The polling – commissioned by the Green Institute – has been released alongside the Green Institute’s new plan to create a national network of publicly owned supermarkets that would cut the cost of essentials by 30%, and slash household grocery bills by hundreds of dollars a month.
The new publicly owned competitor to Coles and Woolworths, called Fair Go Grocers, would be a full service supermarket that would offer 30% discounts (compared to Coles and Woolworths prices) on essentials like fruit and vegetables, bread, milk and meat. Fair Go Grocers would offer smaller discounts across all other store items.
Households would save an average of 22% on every shop, amounting to savings of $3,134 a year for the average four-person family.
A Federal Government investment of $25.1 billion over five years would be used to forcibly acquire 200 Coles and Woolworths stores and three distribution centres and to fund the construction of another 424 stores and ten distribution centres nationwide. Fair Go Grocers would aim to reach 20% market share for supermarkets.
Store revenue would fund operational costs including wages and inventory, and Fair Go Grocers would be cost neutral after five years.
This funding arrangement, together with the elimination of the profit margin, executive salaries, shareholder payments and marketing costs, would slash Fair Go Grocers’ costs to far below Coles and Woolworths, allowing it to sell groceries at a heavily discounted rate.
The plan comes as new research from the Green Institute finds that since 2019, the profits of Coles and Woolworths have surged by 58% and 41% respectively while real wages have declined by 6%.
Three months after Labor’s “anti-price gouging” laws came into effect and made no impact on food prices, the plan promises to finally tackle the predatory supermarket duopoly head-on. It follows a recent announcement by New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani that the city will establish five affordable, publicly-owned supermarkets that will offer a 30% discount on essentials. The policy also draws on learnings from US military commissaries, which have supplied service members, veterans, and their families with groceries ≤25% cheaper than market rate for over 150 years.
Additional key findings from YouGov poll, commissioned by The Green Institute:
- Australians are more concerned about the rising cost of groceries than any other household item (including housing, electricity, or fuel) with 94% of Australians concerned.
- Since the introduction of Labor’s anti-price gouging laws came into effect on July 1, 90% of Australians say they have noticed no improvement in the cost of groceries at the supermarket. 88% of voters say the federal government “could do a lot more to reduce the price of food and groceries”
- 77% of Australians agree that “Coles and Woolworths are driving up the price of groceries and food to make extra profit”
- 35% of Australians have used either credit cards or buy now pay later tools to buy food in the past twelve months
Access the YouGov poll commissioned by The Green Institute here.
IMAGE: Max Chandler-Mather portrait at Woolworths
Quotes attributable to Max Chandler-Mather, Green Institute Executive Director:
“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.”
“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 vast majority of Australians get what apparently the political class don’t – Coles and Woolworths are price gouging, tinkering around the edges has failed, and a publicly owned supermarket would cut out the profit and lower prices.”
“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.”
The survey was conducted online between the 18th of September– 25th of September 2026 of a representative group of 1500 voters.
Media Contact
CHANDLER-MATHER: James Cummins on 0431 419 449
