The subcontinent is next stop in Luke Gosling’s Aldi odyssey

A Territory politician will take his campaign to woo a major supermarket chain to an unusual location. Read where.

Solomon MP Luke Gosling’s Aldi odyssey will take a turn this month when the federal member’s push to deliver the discount grocer to the Northern Territory heads offshore.

Mr Gosling announced this year he would campaign to bring the German-based retailer to Palmerston or Darwin, highlighting Aldi’s consistently lower prices compared with major retailers IGA, Woolworths and Coles.

Since then Mr Gosling has run a strong social media campaign highlighting Aldi’s lower prices and pushing for the retailer to head up north, despite the company’s refusal to commit to a Northern Territory location.

Luke Gosling speaks at the NT News Futures Northern Territory forum. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

In a social media post this week, Mr Gosling pointed out Aldi was up to 27 per cent cheaper than other supermarket chains, noting prices had declined 1.4 per cent since June.

“I’ll continue to advocate for an Aldi and remain open minded about other options to improve food security and affordability in Darwin and Palmerston and the Territory,” he wrote.

Mr Gosling’s push for the German retailer to move to the Top End came after Aldi told a senate inquiry into supermarket prices in April the company had 590 stores – in every jurisdiction except the Territory and Tasmania.

Without directly referencing the Territory, Aldi chief executive Anna McGrath explained why there were stores in Geelong, but not Tasmania or Far North Queensland.

“Tasmania, Far North Queensland, with the distance and the complexities of the supply chain – it just makes it less easy,” Ms McGrath said.

“That’s not to say that we don’t continuously review where we may expand in the future.”

Mr Gosling is pinning his hopes around the company’s decision to open a store in Townsville in November 2023, and in Mackay in May, despite having previously rejected Far North Queensland as a potential store location.

Aldi is now in Townsville, North Queensland.

There is a view that Aldi would not build a supermarket more than five hours from a distribution centre.

In a surprise development, the next stop in Mr Gosling’s Aldi campaign is the subcontinent, where he will represent the Australian Government at an Indian-German dialogue in New Delhi.

A spokesman for Mr Gosling said the MP had met with a “variety of relevant local stakeholders to collect information and will continue this process to develop a proposal to present to Aldi management”.

“Luke has received numerous inquiries from local businesses interested in working with him to pursue this opportunity.

“He has requested meetings with local Aldi management and is pursuing opportunities through informed sources to brief the Aldi head office in Germany.

“Luke is representing the Australian Government at an Indian-German dialogue in New Delhi at the end of the month and will use this setting to pursue the proposal further including travelling to Germany after the dialogue if the opportunity presents itself.”

Aldi has been contacted for comment.

Originally published as The subcontinent is next stop in Luke Gosling’s Aldi odyssey