NZ vs Aus - who's handling the crisis better?

The government announced yesterday it's taking out some insurance on fuel stocks.

Here's Luxon from Post-Cab.

I would soon have been in a place where we are on the front foot.

Securing supplies are much sooner than we think we may even need them,

creating an abundant, I'd soon have the embarrassment of an abundance of fuel

than I would be under, under, under sort of.

All right, let's take a look at the state of play as we speak this morning.

We have in-country and on-water in fuel stocks petrol, 59.3 days, that is up.

Diesel, you are looking at 54.5 days, that is also up.

And for aviation fuel 50.4 days, that is down slightly.

Let's go to Nicola Willis, who's the finance minister.

It was also that press yesterday, minister, good morning.

Good morning, Graham.

Appreciate you being with me this morning.

Let's start with Australia, because the Aussies, it albinese is interesting,

because he's come out and said, if I don't cut this exercise tax,

I risk recession, because people aren't going to drive as much,

use their trucks as much.

Is he right, does he have a point?

Well, look, there's no doubt that high fuel prices are impacting every economy

in the world, New Zealand and Australia are included.

Policy responses will vary.

Our view has been that we have to be very careful now

to actually maintain a strong fiscal position,

and we need to target support for those who are most impacted by this price spike.

And the problem with cutting fuel tax and the way that he has,

is it actually benefits those on the highest incomes the most.

And if you then moved into a stage where you didn't have enough fuel,

you've given a price signal that increases use at a time when you may need to restrain it.

So we've got it for a different targeted approach.

The ticket situation, we're going to swap tickets.

We don't need for ones that we want, for fuel that we want.

Why do we have tickets that we don't need?

Well, as part of our international energy agency obligation,

we need to hold field stops around the world.

And those are intended to be part of how we could respond in a fuel crisis.

And so it's different orders of crude oil and different refined products.

And it's quite normal for countries to have a mixture

and not to be thinking about it as a particular source of supply for ourselves.

But in this crisis, it makes sense for us to consider this a proposal that's come

to us saying, well, it will swap you.

If you let us had access to that fuel you've got in those tickets,

then we will give you access to an equivalent amount of refined petrol,

diesel, potentially jet fuel that you could use in New Zealand engines.

Is that a proposal we're looking at?

Is it a country that's offering that or is that a business?

It's a business.

Okay, but we don't know which, you won't say which one.

No, look, it's commercially seeded up.

So fair enough.

Yeah, fair enough.

Hey, I'm aware you've got to be somewhere,

and it's my fault that we're late.

So I'm going to try and be as quick as I can.

How much could taxpayers be on the hook for

if we underwrite the purchase of fuel?

Well, look, that depends on the deal that we do.

So what we've had is a few commercial proposals come through,

that one on the tickets, but also some people saying we could bring fuel

in specifically for New Zealand.

Now, we want to do it in a way that she is the risk,

because obviously you still want fuel in portals

and porting as much fuel as possible.

And so it's a question of what would we do that was additive,

and how much of the risk would we take on ourselves versus

actually having a commercial operator?

So I don't have numbers yet.

What we've moved to do is say let's do an assessment of it.

What would the cost be?

What would the benefits be?

Do any of these proposals stack up for New Zealand?

It's a bit like an insurance policy,

making sure that we've got some extra,

some extra buffer in case we need it.

All right, Minister, we have two minutes.

I have three questions.

Would you encourage people in the cities

to use public transport?

Because they have the option,

use public transport if you can,

because rural folk can't.

Well, I'd encourage people to do what makes sense for them,

and public transport,

and at the moment, probably cheaper than filling out your car

for most people.

So if you had that option, it can be a good option,

if it suits your hours of work and your family's needs.

This Easter, are you going for a big drive or a big walk?

You know, I've got a lot of work to do in the office this weekend,

so that's a discussion I'm continuing to have with my family

about whether or not I can go away with them.

They will be going away,

whether I can, is still up for breaks.

Are you using your ministerial EV?

I don't have one.

I never claimed one.

I felt the fact that we kept show-foot vehicles is enough,

and I didn't feel comfortable about claiming

a self-drive car as well.

That's the right answer.

My final question for you this morning

is whether you've considered, you know,

we've got all these alert levels.

Have you considered letting people,

letting it all be voluntary,

and letting New Zealanders and markets decide

how we deal with a potential shortage in fuel in New Zealand?

You know, we're pretty reasonable.

We're pretty fair-minded.

We're not dumb,

and prices are pretty good indicators.

Have you given serious thought to that?

Look, I agree with pretty much everything you just said,

and my preference is that we never need to move

beyond phase two in our planned response.

And of course, in phase one and two,

it is voluntary actions,

and it is letting New Zealanders

make their own decision

with some encouragement,

some coordination,

and some regulation by the government.

It would only be in phases three and four

that we would be stepping in

and doing that prioritisation of fuel.

And our goal remains,

if we possibly can avoid that,

we want to.

That's why we're looking at this insurance policy

of sourcing our own fuel,

and that's why we would potentially move to phase two

because if people voluntarily restrain their fuel,

that could eke us out a bit longer.

So I don't like the idea of the government intervening

in a heavy way either,

but if that's what we need to do to preserve fuel security,

then we may just have to.

Minister, appreciate your time this morning.

Thanks for being with me.

That's the Finance Minister.