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One of the reasons the Grocery Commissioner will largely amount to nothing is that they battle with ideas, as opposed to specifics.\xa0

And ideas can't be regulated.\xa0

As part of the Commerce Commission's review into supermarkets they found some of them bought land and prevented competitors opening near them. That is a 'specific' and you can change those rules, and they did.\xa0

You can also change the rules around how long it takes to pay someone like a supplier, so if they decide 120 days is too long they can make it 90 days.\xa0

But the relationships, the so-called bullying, the idea that a huge player lauds it over a smaller player can not, and will not, be fixed, anymore than having a Grocery Commissioner will drop the price of lamb.\xa0

It's the same with petrol. We did a market study on the price of petrol. Is it down or is it priced the way it has always been priced, on the price of oil and transport?\xa0

They have talked a big game on building supplies, on supermarkets and now on banks. I note S&P, one of the world's biggest ratings agencies, said that study will make little or no difference to the way banks operate, and they are right.\xa0

If you want to make it slightly political, it is one of the many reasons the Government will lose office in a few weeks. A lot of what they talked about versus what they actually did, didn't translate. They're big on theory, not so much on delivery.\xa0

In these cases their fundamental understanding, or lack of, business nouse undid them and led to the inevitably disappointing results.\xa0

There is plenty of competition in supermarkets if you shop around. You don\u2019t lack choice and never have.\xa0

If you live in a small town you have less choice than a city. If it rains the price of lettuces goes up, there are specials and end of aisle deals.\xa0

What the promise was made on was two-fold; are supermarkets big and seem rich? Yes. And do you pay too much for your groceries? Yes.\xa0

But that is emotion. They tapped into the emotion that you were getting ripped off, that you weren't getting a good deal and that they were robber barons.\xa0

Well, go check your price of lamb or your litre of petrol or your box of nails or your mortgage rate. Has anything changed because the Government said it would and did a study into it or rolled out a commissioner?\xa0

I won't hold my breath waiting for the answer.\xa0

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