Category: Politics

Source: Radio New Zealand

The Christchurch Methodist Mission is warning that homelessness among older people is at crisis levels and that the situation is rapidly worsening.

The scale of the problem was laid bare during the launch of the charity’s cross-party Doors to Dignity campaign at Parliament on Tuesday night.

The mission said the housing situation for older New Zealanders had deteriorated significantly over the past five years.

Its executive director Jilll Hawkey said that, anecdotally, the number of older people rough sleeping was on the rise.

“We see it from our housing outreach teams, we’ve in recent weeks found a couple of women in their eighties who have been homeless and two men last week in their sevenites who are homeless,” she said.

Hawkey said the housing crisis was especially bad for renters aged 65 and over.

”There is a lot of evidence that this is a growing crisis. The percentage of those aged over 65 years on the social housing register has grown at a faster rate than any other age group.”

The Christchurch Methodist Mission said two out of every three renters aged 65 to 74 spent 40 percent or more of their income on rent.

Hawkey believed the answer to the crisis was simple.

“We need homes to be built that are affordable, accessible and warm, that foster cultural connections and that are embedded in local communities. We know the difference that living in such a home makes.”

The charity’s Doors to Dignity campaign advocated for cross-party support for government investment in what it considered appropriate housing for older people.

Speaking at the launch, Housing Minister Chris Bishop said parliament did not use to take housing seriously enough, but now acknowleged there was a crisis.

He said housing supply did not meet the specific needs of older people.

”Fifty percent of people of the [social housing] register need a one bedroom house. Twelve percent of Kainga Ora stock is one bedroom. We’ve been building the wrong houses for years and years. We need to build simply, low cost affordable units, increasingly for seniors.”

Labour’s housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said flawed data was masking the true scale of the homelessness crisis among older people.

”We don’t know how many people are in severe housing hardship. We don’t know how many people are sleeping rough. We, up until now, have been relying on a census that happens once every five years and, frankly, despite the best efforts of all of you and others, if you are living rough filling out a form is not going to be a priority and then we have a five year gap before we have another idea.”

Green Party housing spokesperson Tamatha Paul said New Zealand did not have the infrastructure for older people to have a dignified life.

”Only 2 percent of our overall housing stock is accessible and that’s despite the fact that we have a growing ageing population and also despite the fact that more than a quarter of our population is disabled.”

New Zealand First said the latest Budget would fund hundreds of new social homes in Auckland and help lower borrowing costs for community housing providers.

The Christchurch Methodist Mission said the challenge of older persons’ housing was urgent.

Its Parliamentary petition to increase and target investment in social and affordable housing for older people had 911 signatures.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

A law professor says if New Zealand was asked to support ensuring safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz, a combat deployment is unlikely.

But Professor Alexander Gillespie said a joint statement between 19 countries condemning Iranian attacks on commercial ships in the Gulf was “effectively just scoping”.

“Nothing’s been nailed down, and it would be premature to nail it down until you know what’s happening with the wider war.”

If a request was made to New Zealand, Gillespie told RNZ it could be helping with intelligence, or picking up patrolling obligations for others so they could deploy to the region.

Another option was actual deployment, which he thought was unlikely.

On Tuesday, the Foreign Minister said people should not be alarmed that “we’re going to be engaged in some military exercise” after the government signed the joint statement.

Labour had raised concerns about the “broad nature” of the statement, criticising the government for not detailing what that commitment might look like, with leader Chris Hipkins saying New Zealanders had a right to know.

But Winston Peters said there had been “scaremongering” from critics who said the government was “rushing to contribute military forces to this conflict”.

“What absolute crap, what absolute nonsense – New Zealand is not a party to this conflict, and we have absolutely no intention of joining it,” he said at Parliament on Tuesday.

It also came as the head of NATO included New Zealand as one of 22 countries “coming together” to secure the Strait of Hormuz.

On Tuesday the government said it had not made any commitment towards military action in the Middle East, but Hipkins said he was very concerned about “what the government had signed us up to”.

He was referring to the joint statement the government signed with 19 other countries, including the United Kingdom and Germany, condemning Iranian attacks on commercial ships in the Gulf.

They called on Iran to immediately cease threats, laying mines, drone and missile attacks and other attempts to block commercial vessels from travelling through the Strait of Hormuz.

“Freedom of navigation is a fundamental principle of international law, including under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea,” the statement read.

The statement also expressed its signatories would be ready “to contribute to appropriate efforts to ensure safe passage through the Strait”.

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon clarified any such future support would need to be considered by Cabinet.

Luxon also outlined nothing had changed in terms of the government position on the initial attacks that started the war, after being asked about condemning Iran’s strikes, while “acknowledging” the strikes by the United States.

“What we’re talking about now is a second order consequence, which is Iranians holding hostage a whole bunch of ships that should be freely traveling to bring fuel and fuel and critical supplies to places like New Zealand.”

Gillespie said it was a “notable inconsistency”.

He said New Zealand should treat “all violations of the UN Charter the same”.

“In as much as we condemn Russia for their illegal war against Ukraine, we should act consistently with the US and Israel.”

On the ‘right side’ – law professor

Gillespie said New Zealand was on the “right side” in supporting an international principle – the freedom of navigation – but “we have to be very cautious and have our eyes wide open as we walk forward”.

He said the statement had the backing of the UN Security Council with regards to the protection of international waterways in freedom of navigation.

He said New Zealand was in good company with the other signatories, and pointed out it was not an initiative from the United States, Israel or Iran.

The protection of international waterways was a longstanding principle, “No country can effectively strangle international commerce by trying to control a waterway,” he said.

“You just can’t do that.”

In terms of the wording “appropriate efforts” in the statement, Gillespie said that could be anything, “it could be civilian, but it’s likely to be military”.

In regards to what New Zealand could offer if support was requested he pointed to the operations in the Red Sea, where the contribution had been “modest”.

The personnel had helped with intelligence, and part of the operations of a much larger system, he said.

A second option was offering “our military to relieve other militaries to be deployed to the region”.

“So we might pick up the patrolling requirements and select some American vessels in a safe area to allow the American vessels to then be deployed to the strait.”

The third option was deploying the Air Force or Navy to the war zone, which he thought was “very unlikely”.

“We’re more likely to be doing the other two, if asked.”

Ultimately he said New Zealand needed to be “very careful what we commit ourselves to, because you can start off in these exercises with a fairly good objective, but then you can find yourself in a very sticky situation that can take years to unravel”.

‘New Zealanders have a right to know’ – Hipkins

On Tuesday, Hipkins said the government had “basically” signed the country up to say “we’re ready and willing to participate in securing the strait”.

“I don’t think we should be making a broad commitment like that at this point. Any support that New Zealand provides should be after a United Nations mandate, and at this point that doesn’t exist,” Hipkins said.

“The government has signed us up to an open ended commitment to re-open the strait, without detailing what that commitment might look like.

“New Zealanders have a right to know what the government is signing us up to.”

Since the statement was released, speaking to Fox News, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said countries including Japan, Korea, Australia, New Zealand, UAE, Bahrain and the NATO alliance were working to “implement [US President Donald Trump’s] vision of making sure that the Strait of Hormuz is free, is opening up as soon as that is possible”.

Asked for clarification about this comment, Peters said Rutte did not speak for New Zealand and he had probably been misinformed.

“We haven’t been asked, and should we be asked – we would consider it. That’s all I’ve said,” Peters emphasised.

On the joint statement, he said it was “specifically narrow”.

In Parliament during an urgent debate on the conflict in the Middle East, Peters said the government was committed to working with partners to try and address one of the consequences of this conflict, that was higher fuel prices for New Zealanders.

“But that is not the same as saying we are definitely going to contribute.

“If we receive a request, or if an international coalition was established in the future to safeguard commercial shipping, any possible contribution would be a matter for – guess who – the Cabinet first of all, to determine based on careful consideration of New Zealand’s interests.”

Currently, the government would not comment on what potential resources would be considered or committed if New Zealand was requested to help, due to it being a hypothetical issue.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Iranian New Zealanders gathered at Parliament on Tuesday night to celebrate Nowruz, or Iranian new year, while grappling with a “mix” of feelings due to the ongoing conflict.

Those in attendance told RNZ they hoped a new year would bring new hope, and that “peace prevails”.

The event was also a memorial to those who were killed in Iran’s deadly crackdown earlier this year, and the scores of children killed at an Iranian girls’ school by a targetting mistake in a US strike.

One organiser for the event, Hoda, told RNZ last year was the inaugural event at Parliament, and it was a “happy moment”.

“But this time, the event is a little bit different. It’s a mix of feeling – Nowruz is felt differently by people, they are sad but hopeful.”

She explained Nowruz meant ‘new day’, or a new beginning: “This is the first year that we felt that from the bottom of our hearts, there might be some hope.

“People, they are sad, but they are hopeful.”

She said she hoped for a “big change” and a “new life for our people”.

“They’re suffering from many years, and finally, they can see that some change might happen.”

Another organiser for the event told RNZ they had prepared a Haft-Seen table, a traditional part of the new year where seven symbollic items starting with the letter ‘s’ are spread on a table representing hope, renewal and prosperity.

One item was serke (vinegar), meaning patience.

“It also tells us that the new year is not always going to be a happy year, and we need a lot of patience, especially during these difficult times that Iran is going through right now,” said one member of the community.

She pointed to the posters representing those killed “as a result of the brutality of the regime or the war, especially there is one poster dedicated to the children of Minab, who were killed”.

There was also a dance performance, a moment of silence held and dates were served alongside the wall of remembrance.

Other members of the Iranian community were in attendance including Soodeh who joined with her husband and young son.

She said Nowruz was an important cultural celebration in Iran, and always celebrated.

“It’s very important for us. It doesn’t matter how we feel. We always celebrate this celebration. That’s why we are here.”

She also hoped something new was going to start in Iran by changing the regime and installing a new leader.

Both Soodeh and Hoda said one thing the New Zealand government could do in response to what was happening was to designate the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist entity, as other countries around the world had done.

The designation has been under consideration for some time. The issue was raised again last year following Australia’s decision to make the designation.

Soodeh also criticised a lack of media coverage in New Zealand regarding the protests in Iran earlier this year, which led to a deadly crackdown.

Mehdi told RNZ he hoped peace would prevail, but also indicated the wish of those in Iran was “freedom” and he hoped that was implemented.

“Freedom of women, freedom of country, and freedom of thought is what what they need.”

He said the use of ideology in a bad way was the “worst thing that can happen” and that was what happened in Iran, and “really upset people”.

Ehsan agreed, saying they wanted a new democratic system. He did not want a regime based on any idea, religious or non-religious. He wanted a system where what people were saying was accepted, and the ruler accepted the majority consensus.

That was what the war was about, he said.

“We don’t like war, but this is imposed on us.”

Labour MP Megan Woods hosted the event, and acknowledged those who could not gather “so freely”.

“As the Haft-Seen table reminds us – with its symbols of renewal, growth, and health – this is a time for both personal reflection and shared solidarity.”

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

A new diabetes roadmap hopes to slow the disease’s progression and decrease the number of amputations.

The government’s roadmap would be released publicly, but not for a number of weeks while its details were finalised.

Maungakiekie MP Greg Fleming announced the plan on behalf of an airborne health minister Simeon Brown at the Tongan Health Society clinic in Auckland’s Onehunga.

“Health New Zealand estimates that diabetes care in 2024-2025 (fiscal year) translated to an estimated $2.1 billion, and even that figure likely underestimates the true cost,” he said.

“The National Diabetes Roadmap sets out a clear and coordinated direction for responding to these challenges, and recognises a vital truth: that diabetes cannot be managed by individual effort alone, it requires system-level leadership and it requires long term commitment.”

Fleming said that accountability would be provided by an oversight group led by epidemiologist Sir Jim Mann.

Mann was clear he intended to flex his role as overseer.

“Please warn Minister Brown that he will be hearing from me, and I hope lots of others, frequently,” he told Fleming.

“I have been in this country for 40 years now and I feel more positive today than I have felt before in my work in diabetes. I am absolutely determined that we’re not going to lose the momentum.”

Mann described the prevalence of diabetes in New Zealand as an epidemic akin to measles or Covid-19.

“People have talked about the ‘epidemic of diabetes,’ but it’s kind of been like ‘epidemic’ with a small ‘e’ instead of epidemic with a capital ‘E’.”

He said it would not be solved overnight.

“We are realists, we know what is written in that roadmap cannot be implemented tomorrow. We know there are a lot of constraints on public money, there are a lot of things that need to be funded, but this is clearly a priority.”

Health New Zealand’s Dr Richard Sullivan, also on the oversight committee, had his sights set on a number of priority areas.

“There’s areas we just know we need to tackle. Some of those things are foot care, weight management guidelines, opportunity around potentially a diabetes register,” he said.

“[On Wednesday], in fact, a small group are sitting down and looking at how we come up with a prioritisation framework, so we’ve got the roadmap, we’ve got the baseline review, we know the costs, so actually where do we start and where do we invest, and putting together that plan over the months ahead.”

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Source: Radio New Zealand

The Foreign Minister says people shouldn’t be alarmed that “somehow we’re going to be engaged in some military exercise” following statements by the head of NATO including New Zealand as one of 22 countries “coming together” to secure the Strait of Hormuz.

It comes as Labour raises concerns about the “broad nature” of a joint statement New Zealand was part of over the weekend, and what the commitment may open the country up to.

Winston Peters said there had been “scaremongering” from critics who say the government is “rushing to contribute military forces to this conflict”.

“What absolute crap, what absolute nonsense – New Zealand is not a party to this conflict, and we have absolutely no intention of joining it,” he said at Parliament on Tuesday.

Currently, the government won’t comment on what potential resources would be considered or committed if New Zealand was requested to help, due to it being a hypothetical issue.

Earlier on Tuesday the government said it had not made any commitment towards military action in the Middle East, but Labour leader Chris Hipkins said he was very concerned about “what the government had signed us up to”.

He was referring to a joint statement the government signed with 19 other countries condemning Iranian attacks on commercial ships in the Gulf.

Over the weekend, the government joined 19 other countries in condemning Iranian attacks on commercial ships in the Gulf.

In a collective statement, the countries including the United Kingdom and Germany, expressed “deep concern” about the escalating conflict. The statement also expressed its signatories would be ready “to contribute to appropriate efforts to ensure safe passage through the Strait”.

They called on Iran to immediately cease threats, laying mines, drone and missile attacks and other attempts to block commercial vessels from travelling through the Strait of Hormuz.

Luxon clarified any such future support would need to be considered by Cabinet.

On Tuesday, Hipkins said the government had “basically” signed the country up to say “we’re ready and willing to participate in securing the strait”.

He then said that was a “slight paraphrase,” but “effectively, that’s what they’ve signed up to”.

“I don’t think we should be making a broad commitment like that at this point. Any support that New Zealand provides should be after a United Nations mandate, and at this point that doesn’t exist,” Hipkins said.

Speaking to Fox News, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said countries including Japan, Korea, Australia, New Zealand, UAE, Bahrain and the NATO alliance were working to “implement [US President Donald Trump’s] vision of making sure that the Strait of Hormuz is free, is opening up as soon as that is possible”.

Asked for clarification about this comment, Winston Peters said Rutte did not speak for New Zealand and he had probably been misinformed.

“We haven’t been asked, and should we be asked – we would consider it. That’s all I’ve said,” Peters emphasised.

In Parliament during an urgent debate on the conflict in the Middle East, Peters said the government was committed to working with partners to try and address one of the consequences of this conflict, that was higher fuel prices for New Zealanders.

In Parliament during an urgent debate on the conflict in the Middle East, Peters said the government was committed to working with partners to try and address one of the consequences of this conflict, which has huge implications for us, our partners and the global economy.

“But that is not the same as saying we are definitely going to contribute.

“If we receive a request, or if an international coalition was established in the future to safeguard commercial shipping, any possible contribution would be a matter for – guess who – the Cabinet first of all, to determine based on careful consideration of New Zealand’s interests.”

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Source: Radio New Zealand

The government announced almost 150,000 families will receive an extra $50 a week to help ease the pain caused by soaring petrol prices, but who can expect to see that money show up in their account next month?

Speaking at a media conference on Tuesday, Finance Minister Nicola Willis said the relief would come through a boost to the in-work tax credit – part of the Working for Families scheme.

People would start seeing the full benefit in their bank accounts from 7 April, if they were paid weekly, or 14 April, if they were paid fortnightly.

Who will get $50 a week?

Only low-to-middle-income workers who have children would be eligible for the payments, Willis said.

It excluded beneficiaries, superannuitants and those without children.

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Willis said for beneficiaries, there would be usual increases on April 1 which “working families” did not automatically get.

“And I’d also note, working families face the obligation to get to and from work each day. Beneficiaries do not face that obligation,” Willis said.

“The policy is carefully targeted to families in the squeezed middle – parents who are working hard for a living, are not eligible for main benefits, and yet have modest household incomes with which to support their children,” Willis said.

“We know these families will be hit particularly hard by the global fuel-price shock. We are delivering them timely relief.”

In the current tax year, the cut-off for receiving the tax credit was around $89,000 of annual household income for a family with one child, $112,000 for a family with two children and $135,000 for a family with three children.

Willis said the government could not relieve price pressures for all businesses and families who were feeling price pressures. She said “large, untargeted government spending programmes” could make the situation worse by driving up inflation and debt.

She said while families that missed out would also have welcomed support, the government was “limited by the big increase in debt that occurred in the aftermath of Covid”.

“If it’s not you getting the support today, just know it might be your friend, it might be your family member, it might be the person serving you at the cafe today. Working families who cannot easily avoid higher fuel costs.”

How long will it continue?

The temporary increase would last for as long as one year, or until the price of 91 octane petrol dropped below $3 a litre for four weeks in a row, Willis said.

How do you get it?

Families who were already receiving the in-work tax credit (IWTC) payments, would not need to do anything to receive the money, the government said, with Inland Revenue automatically delivering the increase.

For people who didn’t receive the IWTC payments who thought they might be available, they needed to contact Inland Revenue.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Almost 150,000 families will receive an extra $50 a week for up to a year to help ease the pain from soaring petrol prices driven up by the war in the Middle East.

Speaking at a media conference at the Beehive on Tuesday, Finance Minister Nicola Willis said the relief would come through a boost to the in-work tax credit – part of the Working for Families scheme.

That means only low-to-middle-income workers who have children are eligible. It excludes beneficiaries, superannuitants and those without children.

“The policy is carefully targeted to families in the squeezed middle – parents who are working hard for a living, are not eligible for main benefits, and yet have modest household incomes with which to support their children,” Willis said.

“We know these families will be hit particularly hard by the global fuel-price shock. We are delivering them timely relief.”

The temporary increase would last for as long as one year, or until the price of 91 octane petrol dropped below $3 a litre for four weeks in a row, Willis said.

About 143,000 households would start seeing the full benefit in their bank accounts from 7 April, if they were paid weekly, or 14 April, if they were paid fortnightly. A further 14,000 households would receive the support but at a lesser rate.

In the current tax year, the cut-off for receiving the tax credit was around $89,000 of annual household income for a family with one child, $112,000 for a family with two children and $135,000 for a family with three children.

The policy was estimated to cost $373 million if it ran for a full year, or less if it did not, Willis said.

Willis said that cost would come out of the government’s operating allowance for this year’s Budget, meaning it had already been factored into Treasury’s fiscal forecast.

“Funding the policy this way will not add to forecast debt or inflationary pressures. It is consistent with the government’s fiscal strategy which seeks to balance the books and bend the debt curve down.”

Willis said the government could not relieve price pressures for all businesses and families who were feeling price pressures. She said “large, untargeted government spending programmes” could make the situation worse by driving up inflation and debt.

“The government is conscious that a careless response to this crisis could have long-lasting and painful consequences. We saw this in the aftermath of Covid, where excessive spending more than doubled debt and sent inflation soaring and mortgage rates skyrocketing. Kiwis are still grappling with the effects of that today.”

More to come …

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Source: Radio New Zealand

It will be 100 days of hiked up fuel prices at the pump even if the conflict in the Middle East was to end today, according to government officials.

Labour leader Chris Hipkins and finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds were briefed by officials from the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet and the mega-ministry, MBIE, on Tuesday morning.

“They indicated to us they’re expecting, and the government is expecting this to go on for months … that the escalated price in fuel is going to go on for months,” Hipkins told media on his way to caucus.

The officials were asked to brief the Opposition and gave a number of 100 days when asked how long the pain at the pump would continue beyond the conflict ending.

Hipkins said there were a number of questions officials were unable to answer.

“They weren’t able to tell us anything about the changes in fuel specifications that they agreed to yesterday, they couldn’t tell us what that actually means in practice, they weren’t able to tell us how much storage there might be available, they weren’t able to tell us what might trigger an increase in the government’s alert level framework,” he said.

“We’re very much relying on publicly available information.”

Hipkins used that as his defence for not having an alternative plan for what Labour would do to help New Zealanders feeling the pinch, if it were in government.

He ruled out any wage subsidy support for employees but has indicated Labour would go further than the government in other support.

However, when pressed on what that means he was unwilling to give details.

The Prime Minister and Finance Minister Nicola Willis are due to announce a “temporary, timely, and targeted” support package at Parliament on Tuesday afternoon.

Later this week Willis is expected to give an update on the national fuel plan and what the various alert levels would practically mean for New Zealanders.

*RNZ will be streaming the fuel support announcement from 12.30pm and blogging the updates as they happen.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

ACT Party MP and minister Brooke van Velden has announced she won’t be seeking re-election in November.

She currently holds the seat of Tamaki, which she won in 2023.

More to come…

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Source: Radio New Zealand

The Citizens Advice Bureau says people are going to need significant support as fuel prices continue to rise, and is hopeful whatever relief the government is set to offer will include support for those not in paid work.

Cabinet has signed off on what support the government will offer, with details to be released later on Tuesday.

The Finance Minister has hinted it would be targeted towards low and middle income families.

“It must be targeted, it must be timely, and it must be temporary and not drive inflation or debt higher, because as we steer New Zealand through this immediate challenge, we must also continue to look to the future and bend the debt curve down,” Nicola Willis said on Monday.

The fact the Inland Revenue Department and Treasury had been tasked with going over the options, and a previous admission from the government it would use existing mechanisms, indicated it could be looking at changes to Working for Families.

The In-Work Tax Credit (IWTC) was paid out depending on someone’s income, the weeks they worked, and how many children they had.

In April, the government would raise the abatement threshold (the income level at which the credit would reduce) from $42,700 to $44,900.

There was also the Independent Earner Tax Credit (IETC) for people earning between $24,000 and $70,000.

The IETC was designed to help people on lower to middle incomes that were not eligible for Working for Families.

People earning between $24,000 and $66,000 received a tax credit of $10 per week. It decreased by 13 cents for every dollar someone earned over $66,000.

Asked on Monday whether the abatement thresholds would be temporarily changed, Willis said she would wait to comment until the details of the package were announced.

The Citizens Advice Bureau’s national policy advisor Louise May said there were already “high levels of stress” amongst the client base, and the latest hike in the cost of living could plunge people further into hardship.

“We’ve got a lot of clients coming in for help who are just unable to make ends meet. That includes clients with work and those without, and we are really concerned that those clients are going to be in even more dire financial and material hardship situations,” she said.

May hoped both people in work and people receiving income support who did not have paid work were offered relief, and also called for relief for support services such as food banks and emergency accommodation.

“Any measure to increase money coming into the pockets of people who are struggling should definitely be looked at. One thing we’re really concerned about is the fact that there hasn’t been mention of families who don’t have paid work,” she said.

“We think it’s really important that any relief package that’s introduced as a result of this latest crisis also includes families and people who don’t currently have paid employment. They are the ones who are going to be most affected.”

May said it was not just about what people were paying at the pump, but rent and food prices were also high, and people were struggling.

Infometrics chief executive and principal economist Brad Olsen said changes to the IWTC or IETC would be quick and effective.

He said the difficulty of using the tax system was it would not be as easy for households to see the money come into their back pockets compared to a helicopter payment such as the 2022 Cost of Living Payment, but it would mean the government could run it out quickly and then run it back quickly.

“It does seem like probably the best way to move things through is to use the tax system. Whether or not it’s enough, any little bit will help at the moment, given the sorts of pressures that some households are under. I guess the most workable thing using the tax system around the Independent Earner Tax Credit and the In Work Tax Credit is that they can be targeted to those on lower incomes already, and so you are getting the support there through to people who probably need it most.”

Olsen said the government would be trying to balance providing support and limiting the costs.

“There’s no extra money in the system, and to fund whatever package the government is coming out with either requires an increase in debt or something else in the government system to be cut back on,” he said.

“They want to provide as much support as possible, but keep the limitations tight so they’re not sort of spending a huge amount. And for some people, that does mean that they will feel that they’re not getting the support they might expect from government. But equally, the wider you go, the more money it costs, and therefore at some point, the more the country has to repay.”

Olsen said one of the risks of using tax system changes was they were sometimes “so fiendishly complex” that households may not know what they were entitled to, and sometimes neither did the government.

“They get too much or too little, and then you only find out after the fact that they actually either deserve more, or sometimes in the worst case, they have to start paying this money back, which would almost be the complete opposite of what the government wants to try and support at the moment.

“So you want to, from a government point of view, try and balance these changes, to make them as absolutely blunt and simple as possible, to get that money out the door, to support those who need it, but also have it go through enough of a workable system, which is a more complex tax system that we have to try and provide that sort of targeted focus.”

Labour leader Chris Hipkins was reserving judgement on what the government would offer until he had seen the details, but said the “principle” was that it should be offered to all people on low and fixed incomes.

“Anyone on a fixed income or a low income is going to be suffering at the moment because of the high price of fuel. That includes superannuitants, it includes people living on benefits, it includes people caring for others and not currently earning an income, not just those who are on low incomes in the workforce.”

Hipkins would not, however, offer up what Labour would do differently if it was in power, saying it was up to the government to present a plan.

“At the moment, the onus has to be on the current government to lead the country through that,” Hipkins said.

The Green Party has proposed an urgent support package including free public transport, relief payments for low income and rural people to help meet additional transport costs, temporarily expanding eligibility for school buses and reversing cuts to school bus routes, reversing planned cuts to the Total Mobility Scheme, increasing mileage rates to care and support workers who receive well below standard IRD mileage, and a windfall profits tax.

Asked why the Greens could propose policies but Labour could not, Hipkins said minor parties could “promise a lot of things” during election campaigns.

“They get a lot more luxury to promise whatever they want, compared to the bigger parties,” Hipkins said.

In a post on social media on Monday night, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said he had spoken with Singapore Prime Minister Lawrence Wong about what more they could do to deal with difficulties in fuel and other supply chains.

Luxon said about a third of New Zealand’s fuel was refined in Singapore and the two leaders agreed it was important to keep the trade of essential goods flowing between the two countries.

“We’re working hard to ensure New Zealand’s fuel needs are met amidst the conflict in the Middle East, which is causing disruption to supply and higher prices at the pump,” he said.

“When I visit Singapore in May, we will sign the Agreement on Trade in Essential Supplies, a deal that will help keep supply chains flowing for fuel, food and other products.

“Building on the great platform we’ve built with one another, we also talked about what further work our Governments can do together as we navigate through these supply chain challenges.”

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand