The New Zealand (NZ) Government has viewed stronger retail grocery competition as a national priority. But zoning, consenting, and overseas investment approval processes make new entry difficult. This report details drafting instructions for a Fast-track Supermarket Entry and Expansion Omnibus Bill, which would rapidly approve retail grocery developments at scale and cut through complex barriers that are preventing new supermarket chains from entering the New Zealand market.

This proposal would explicitly prevent existing major supermarket chains from using the fast-track process for at least five years, reserving the pathway for new entrants and smaller competitors before enabling existing chains to engage in more strenuous head-to-head competition.

The proposed Fast-Track pathway would:

• Streamline rezoning, consenting and investment clearance processes for a set of new stores and associated warehouses as a package, providing decisions within months.
• Override obstructive planning regulations.
• Open New Zealand’s grocery sector to the real possibility of a new competitor.
• Disappear when resource management reform has made the pathway irrelevant.

The report is accompanied by an audio recording.