The fuel stocks are strong, so why is the confidence low

0:00Let's take a look at fuel suppliers. They remain stable. We've got almost 62 days of petrol, 51 and a half days of diesel, and just over 50 days of jet fuel here are all on the way, on the water, as we speak. So let's go to the Finance Minister, Nicola Waters, who's leading the government's response. Minister, good morning. Good morning, Ron. Good to have you on the programme this morning. What do you make of all that? I mean, Trump's saying I could blow the hole of Iran up and I could do it tomorrow. What do we think of that? Well, look, we're really concerned by the trajectory of this conflict. We don't want to see escalation. We want to see resolution. And that requires negotiation. It requires people looking for a cessation to these sorts of activities. And once again, we call on all actors in the conflict to uphold international law. That includes humanitarian law, which is pretty explicit. You shouldn't be targeting civilians or civilian infrastructure. So will that be our message to the Americans this

1:01week, like settle down? What you are describing is a war crime? Well, we've been very consistent in our message, which is that the sooner this conflict ends, the better it is for New Zealand. Actually, the better it is for the world, not least those losing their lives than the Middle East, but also the global economy, which is taking a hammering. And so, yes, we want to see the Strait of Hormuz reopened. And for that to happen, we need to see a de-escalation in the conflict. And so we're once again calling up the negotiation to resume. We want to see this conflict over. Trump is saying, well, I've done my bit. It's now up to you. If you want the oil, go take the oil. Are we going to go take the oil? I'm not sure that's what he was saying in his tweets at the weekend. He didn't sound like he'd done his bit yet. Sounded like he was still had some things on his to-do list. And look, we want to see the Strait of Hormuz reopened. In a precondition for that, obviously, is that we'll need to see conflict de-escalating rather than escalating. And as to how

2:09that happens, well, New Zealand was one of 40 countries that met under the leadership of the UK last week to discuss in the future how diplomatic and political means could be used to keep that Strait open and allow normal maritime passage to occur. There are many countries in the world very focused on that objective. We're not the only ones suffering from massive fuel prices right now and real concerns about future fuel supply. Did you get a sense from that meeting? Did the government get a sense from the meeting exactly what we could do or could be done about that? Well, again, hate to be a broken record, but we need to see conflict de-escalators as one of the conditions that countries would want to see. And then there's a question about the terms. And we really are calling on Iran in that instance not to weaponize the Strait the way that they have been, not to hold the world hostage to the Strait through ongoing violence in that area.

3:09When the Strait of Hormuz is able to be peacefully passage, then we'll see a normal resumption of oil and fuel in the world. And we'll see these crazy prices and these concerns about supply abate. Yeah, I saw your update yesterday on the fuel stocks stable and still no indication from the importers that we will actually experience a shortage, though obviously I know you're keeping a watching brief. Have you got any update on the government underwriting fuel imports? Well, we're continuing those discussions where they've appointed a commercial team to lead those. There's a couple of bits to it around. The first is you'll be aware last week we finalised a deal with the Channel Infrastructure to bring on some more storage capacity at Mazden Point, another 90 million litres or so. So we've got somewhere to store additional fuel, should we get it? And then we're looking at a few options. One is to work with the existing fuel importing companies on commercial arrangements that would allow them to bring in more supply than they normally do. Another would be to have bespoke arrangements with one-off shipments and another arrangement could

4:14be in terms of our international energy agency tickets that we have for fuel around the world, swapping that fuel, which isn't in a form we can use, for fuel that we could use in New Zealand. So there's a few avenues we're pursuing them at pace. Obviously it's important that we get a good deal for the New Zealand taxpayer, but also we get a timely out. All right, I'll wait and update on that one. Schools who use diesel boilers to heat the classrooms in winter, I was reading about Burnside High School, they spent north of $100,000 I think last year on diesel, is the minister trying to help these schools top up their budgets because they'll be obviously paying more through the nose for diesel? Eric Stanford, the Minister of Education, is all over it. The ministry have contacted just about every school when I checked in with her last week to see what expensive fuel costs they have. So for some you're right, that's a diesel boiler, others are running their own bespoke transport services, so there's a range of cost pressures

5:18that they could face. And so the ministry is getting a very clear picture of what that looks like, and then it's considering some options. It is part of our budget consideration this year, those extra fuel pressures. In some cases, schools will be able to meet it from their own reserves, but yeah, looking at some more heat pumps in a few schools, looks like it could be a good idea, and I know that something the Ministry of Education is actively considering. So just to clarify, for schools that are worrying about this this morning watching the program, you're saying we're looking at heat pumps, but also help with covering the diesel bill, because it would have blown out. Like, no schools going to be left with a huge hole on their box because of this, basically. Well, no. So the first thing is that the ministry is reaching out to schools to find out what that picture looks like for them, because it's very varied across the country, and then we'll be working with those schools to see how these costs they can meet from within their normal operating budget, or are these costs that they'll need help with, and it will be very bespoke. It'll be arrangement by arrangement. You've heard me use the phrase

6:19before Ryan, it'll be temporary, it'll be timely, and it'll be targeted. Finally, Indonesia said that they're going to help the Aussies out with fertilizer, because they have a little deal going on. Have we got any preferential deal for fertilizers? Where are we at with that? Well, we're in a good position with fertiliser. We have good coverage for the upcoming season, and we do also, of course, produce some fertilizer here in New Zealand. Around a third of it, we produce here, and so we've been advised by the fertiliser import companies that they're still looking pretty good. The big issue is price. It's gone up more than 50 percent, and of course, that's a big cost for farmers on top of that big diesel bill that already facing. So that's where you start to see that real pressure on food prices. It's regrettable yet another reason why we want to see this conflict come to a resolution. Minister, you were pretty blunt with your assessment of the most recent poll, and this Roy Morgan

7:22won is Nats on 26.5, and 56 percent more than half of Kiwi say we're heading in the wrong direction. What's your assessment of that? I've never paid attention to a Roy Morgan poll. I don't even know that it's got a scientific methodology. There's so many different polls. They go up, they go down. Our focus right now is getting this country through what is a crisis for many New Zealanders, managing our economy well and responsibly. I haven't paid that much attention to the line by line of polls in recent days. All right, what about the memes? Have a look at this for people who haven't seen it. This is the latest meme in featuring Nicola Willis. If you think these prices are expensive, just you wait. These prices are going up.

8:26Minister, I understand you have seen this meme in your thoughts. Well, thank you for sending it to me. It was such a shame to miss it, because actually it's quite flattering. I can't dance that well, Ryan. Those were some good moves that she was pulling off, so all in all, I'll take it. But of course, I take no pleasure in seeing if your prices go up. I think the person who deserves the r of that video is probably living in another country with a more important job than me. Appreciate your time this morning, Minister.