Greens unveil $25.1bn plan to nationalise hundreds of Coles and Woolworths stores

Former Greens MP Max Chandler-Mather, who leads the Greens Institute, has presented a $25.1bn five-year plan to bring more than 200 Coles and Woolworths supermarkets into public ownership and to launch a network of 424 new government-run grocery outlets named Fair Go Grocers. The scheme would use new forced-divestiture legislation to acquire existing supermarket sites and three distribution centres, and the federal government would cover capital costs such as land, construction, and acquisitions while also building ten new distribution hubs.

The publicly owned chain is designed to lower average weekly grocery expenses by up to 22%, offering deep discounts on staples and establishing a statutory body to set monthly prices and minimum wholesale rates. Chandler-Mather models the initiative on New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s city-owned grocery program and cites a YouGov poll showing 84% of respondents support publicly owned supermarkets. Greens leader David Shoebridge welcomed the proposal, arguing it provides a popular solution to the pressure of rising food prices and contrasts with profit-driven pricing by Coles and Woolworths. The Greens contend that Labor’s existing price-cap laws have not delivered lower costs for shoppers.