Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says most New Zealanders understand limited nature of fuel disruption support
The Prime Minister isn’t committing to widening the Government’s financial support to any other groups struggling with skyrocketing fuel prices as the conflict in the Middle East continues.
Asked what his message was to businesses hit hard by the additional costs, Christopher Luxon responded that the “frame” of what the Government was willing to do was “pretty clear”.
“We’re acknowledging upfront we cannot alleviate the pressure for everybody, but we do have a framework around timely, targeted, temporary support, which I think most New Zealanders would understand and appreciate.”
In his opening remarks at a press conference on Tuesday, Luxon said diesel was the “lifeblood of our economy” that “key industries like farming and construction rely on to keep powering”.
“Price increases have been particularly sharp for diesel, rising at a much faster rate than petrol and jet fuel, and that is due to the strong and inflexible global demand and the disruption to diesel refineries, which have been most impacted,” he said.
“It is understandable that diesel users want relief from rising prices, and we are acutely aware of the pressure that all Kiwis are feeling, but seeking to alleviate that pressure for everyone would be unaffordable and irresponsible.”
The Prime Minister has constantly pointed to what he highlights as being the “lessons” learnt from the Covid-19 experience as a reason not to provide financial support more widely.
“The short-term gains that people experience from spending decisions made during the pandemic resulted in long-term pain in the form of high inflation, high interest rates, high debt and a prolonged recession from which we had just started recovering before the conflict began.”
So far, the Government has provided a $50-a-week boost to the In-Work Tax Credit, expected to benefit about 143,000 families with children. Others, such as beneficiaries and superannuitants, didn’t benefit from this change, but did receive an automatic, annual increase to the amount they receive on April 1.
Last week, the Government also announced a temporary 30% boost to the mileage rates of home and community support workers. These are workers who have to drive to homes to provide care.
Luxon on Monday wouldn’t commit to broadening the support. He said he understood the pressure rising prices were having on households, but wasn’t willing to get the “cash bazooka” out, saying it may lead to increased inflation.
Asked if the Government was talking about support for other groups and whether that extended to businesses which may be near going under, Luxon spoke again about the “timely, targeted, temporary” nature of the Government’s response. He said this was the “lens” through which the Government was looking at things.
The Prime Minister also faced questioning on Monday about the new Taxpayers’ Union-Curia poll, which had National rising 1.4 to 29.8%.
He said he didn’t comment on polls and was instead focused on the fuel crisis.