Deputy PM David Seymour stresses supply focus ahead of release of fuel plan detail

Deputy Prime Minister David Seymour says the Government is preparing to respond to changing fuel conditions, should it need to, with further detail to be released about the country's escalation plan. 

The Government is announcing on Friday what will happen in the event of a worsening situation, and while the Government would first look at fuel sourcing, other options are on the table as fuel prices climb.

Seymour told Interest.co.nz much was still uncertain regarding the military situation.

“So what can we do on that supply side? Deregulating fuel standards - that's been announced,” he said, referring to fuel specifications temporarily eased to be in line with Australia, with the Government taking advice on allowing sulphur-rich fuel into New Zealand.

“I suspect there'll be more deregulation… And then questions about international relations. All that stuff on the supply side, to the extent we can influence it, has been done."

Then you move to the demand side - “which you don't want to have to do”.

Part of the escalation steps in the fuel plan would potentially see the Government enact a range of measures such as fuel prioritisation or rationing fuel demand, should the situation in the Middle East deteriorate further.

“That fuel plan gives you a good sense of what it looks like to move up and have more restrictions,” he said.

“You have to make sure that we always preserve the police, the courts, the ambulances, the hospitals, the things that basically keep the society civil. And then you've got things that you need to be able to run supermarkets and provide food and education, and then you sort of go down the hierarchy from there."

He hoped with planning around the supply-side first, “we understand the situation, we build the networks, we get more fuel in, and then we don't have to start going down that cascade, because that is to be avoided”.

Seymour said Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Resources Minister Shane Jones would be announcing detail about how the fuel plan would be implemented, if it was needed.

“I don't want to steal their thunder on anything like that, but it's fair to say that there are different steps, and there are procedures for deciding when to move a step. That stuff will all be revealed.”

Asked if they were looking at what measures other countries were implementing, Seymour said each country was in a starkly different position.

“I was talking to someone from Alberta, Canada yesterday. They've wiped out their entire provincial budget deficit in the last two weeks because Calgary pumps a lot of oil."

“We're in a totally opposite situation."

“It's not like Covid, where everyone faced basically the same thing. At this point it's not clear that there are really positive examples, but I think it's worth looking when you see other countries starting to introduce demand side restrictions, they've already moved from supply to demand, then you have to ask yourself, do they know something we don't?”