Briefly in the news in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Wednesday, April 8:
PM Christopher Luxon says he’s fine with fuel importer reassurances about new tanker deliveries being on track, saying yesterday: “(I’ve been told) there’s no risk to future orders. We’re very comfortable with where we sit today.”
The last scheduled fuel tanker to arrive is the STI Sanctity3 on April 23 at Marsden Point. With no new tankers or rationing, the stocks reported as of last Wednesday means New Zealand is on track to run out of diesel on May 22, a week before the pre-election Budget.
Z Energy last night hiked its diesel price list for commercial customers for this week by 55c to $4.15/litre. Refined diesel futures in Singapore closed last night at US$232/barrel. Luxon yesterday again ruled out fuel excise or diesel RUC cuts.
Luxon said granting such relief for households and businesses was “irresponsible and unaffordable,” for the Government’s finances.
That’s despite the Government itself actually being a net recipient of dividends and interest payments and having debt levels relative to income of barely a quarter that of households. Paying subscribers can see more below the paywall fold & in the podcast and video above. The PDF of the presentation above is attached below too.
