A community leader has lashed out at the Government's new supermarket watchdog saying the money would be better spent by charities and foodbanks on the frontline.
On Wednesday, the Government announced a Grocery Commissioner will be established to identify rip-offs for customers and report on competition in the sector.
Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs Dr David Clark said the watchdog, which will be based within the Commerce Commission, will have the ability to issue warnings and fines.
It follows the Commerce Commission's market study of the grocery sector which found it currently isn't "working well for New Zealand consumers" with smaller retailers unable to compete with the two major players - Woolworths NZ and Foodstuffs.
Speaking with Newshub on Wednesday night Brown Butterbean Motivation (BBM) founder David Letele said the set-up costs for bureaucracy should be heading straight to the vulnerable instead.
"It really annoys me when the Government set this up… A committee. How much is this costing? Why don't they just give it to community groups to help more families?" he questioned.
Letele said families are struggling to buy the basics and the money would be better spent feeding them.
"Families at the moment are struggling. There are people - parents and kids sleeping in the laundry to keep warm. They're staying in cold, damp homes. There's no food. Parents are emailing and messaging me at 2am, 3am begging, begging for food."
He said even working families are struggling to meet the increasing costs for basics.
"People were saying, 'Oh, there are always going to be poor [people] - it's choices that they've made'. But there are people that have lost their jobs, pregnant mums that are surviving on one wage [because] their husband's been laid off. They're looking after sick parents. What are they going to do?"
He said petrol prices mean some parents can't afford to drive their children to school, while uniform costs mean others are forced to just send one child at a time.
"Why is it so expensive to go and get a $200 blazer? To keep the kids warm? Kids are sharing uniforms - one kid will go to school one day and the other one will go the next day. This is just totally outrageous."
He said the money for the new agency could make a huge difference if it was given directly to organisations working on the ground.
Letele also blamed the increasing cost of living for a recent spike in crime. He said the basics are so expensive families are being forced to steal so they can feed their kids.
"We've all seen this increase in crime. It's a direct correlation to more families struggling. You have to understand, if you got nothing you're looking at, you've got a six-year-old, you will do anything to feed that six-year-old, anything," he said.
Speaking with AM on Thursday, David Clark said the Commissioner will cost less than $7 million to set up and would address the "million dollars a day in excess profits supermarkets are taking".
"We think if we can address the problem of hundreds of millions of dollars a year going out in excess profits that will make things better for consumers overall," he said.
On Wednesday, Clark said the new Commissioner will hold the sector to account and ramp up competition. They will also provide annual "state-of-competition reviews".
"The Grocery Commissioner will be a referee of the sector, keeping the supermarket duopoly honest and blowing the whistle where it suspects there is a problem," Dr Clark said.
"They will maintain a close eye on how Government's reforms for the sector are implemented and ensure Kiwis are getting a fair deal at the checkout.
"By placing this role in the Commerce Commission it will have access to a wealth of information when it comes to economic and competition regulation, fair trading, consumer protection and the grocery sector itself."
The minister said legislation establishing the role is expected to be introduced later in the year with the first Grocery Commissioner then appointed following the Bill passing.
It comes as a perfect storm of economic factors drives the costs of essentials sky-high with grocery, petrol and mortgage prices all spiking.
