Page 4414 - Week 12 - Wednesday, 14 October 2009
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patterns have changed, they have become a focal point for fast food, coffee shops, restaurants, bars and specialty stores. The existing 17 group centres at Calwell, Charnwood, Chisholm, Conder, Curtin, Dickson, Erindale, Hawker, Jamison, Kaleen, Kingston, Kambah, Kippax, Manuka, Mawson, Wanniassa and Weston account for 38 per cent of supermarket floor space and 43 per cent of sales.
One of the main themes of the Martin report is the need to upgrade group centres and the need for flexibility in planning to increase competitive tension in these centres. Until recently there has been a rigid adherence to a model of one full-line supermarket per group centre. The review mounts strong arguments to increase the number of full-line retailers in some of the group centres. The entry of Aldi in four group centres has also provided an important competitive dynamic in the centres, notwithstanding that Aldi are not and do not purport to be full-line supermarkets.
John Martin found that a significant impediment to the redevelopment of group centres was the fragmentation of ownership and, in certain centres, a lack of coordinated will by owners to upgrade. Throughout the public consultation Jamison and Weston were highlighted as examples of group centres that had been upgraded through coordinated efforts to accommodate another supermarket, Aldi, in both instances. Canberrans were clear about the positive effect this had had not only for consumers but for the smaller independents such as IGA.
If there are any among us today tempted to froth at the mouth at the notion of restricted auctions or direct land sales and the patent discrimination this entails against Woolies and Coles, I remind the chamber that Aldi was assisted into the ACT by direct sales of land in its first three sites. I defy anyone to suggest that Aldi’s assisted entry has damaged competitiveness in the grocery market, has been bad for Canberrans or has injured anyone. Who seriously suggests that the fact that the government assisted Aldi into the Canberra market through direct grants for three of its seven sites has in any way damaged Canberra or anyone in Canberra?
So to the local centres. The ACT has rightly placed emphasis on ensuring the provision of local centre convenience supermarket shopping. ACTPLA’s stated approach to local centres is to allow the market to determine how existing local centres expand in a way that is consistent with public amenity and enables those stores to provide a more competitive offer against full-line stores in larger centres and to space local centres in developing areas either more widely or apply more flexible conditions.
The review felt this adequately combined competition and planning requirements. It was also felt that ACTPLA’s approach should be reinforced, subject to regular market feedback. For existing local centres facing sustainability pressures, conversion to intense, multistorey residential usage combined with a proportionately scaled commercial and convenience usage could be adopted. This process would be subject to regular market feedback.
The review recommended that in relation to local centres no artificial constraints should be placed on supermarkets in appropriate centres to expand in a way that was consistent with public amenity. In addition, the viability of local centre independent stores could be boosted if opportunities to increase independent wholesale competition are taken up by that market.
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