Labour has promised to ban big companies from charging excessive prices, if elected.
Leader Chris Hipkins said a handful of big businesses were guilty of price gouging - that is, charging more than necessary for essential items.
The full policy includes:
- making it illegal for big companies with substantial market power to charge excessive prices for essential goods and services, or to pay unfairly low prices to suppliers
- setting a legal test for price gouging: holding prices “well above what they would otherwise be in a competitive market, sustained over time”
- requiring companies that gouge to pay penalties and hand back every dollar of excess profit
- giving the Commerce Commission power to investigate price gouging and supporting consumer groups and suppliers to do the same.
Williams said similar rules were already in place in the United Kingdom, Europe, Canada, and Australia.
We used to have this as part of the Commerce Act: https://youtu.be/pONRoLttdaU?t=1635
EDIT: That entire episode is worth a listen if you have the time.
To be honest I find it a bit crazy to think that we have a tribunal setting the prices of things right up to the early 90s. I find it really hard to see how something like that could come about today!
Cool video, a life long NZ economist who grew up in the wake of the Great Depression from a generation earlier. Thanks for linking, that was an interesting watch! We should really bring back state owned power and other essentials.
My main question with this is if there is anything truly different from our current rules, and if those differences are clearly enough defined to actually be enforecable and make a difference.
I think this policy of Labour’s combined with the Greens policy of giving ComCom some teeth would be the best outcome of this whole cost of living debacle.
At this point I’m just hoping someone invents a star trek style replicator to make money irrelevant.
