Mike's Minute: Chris Hipkins might not be very numerate

I think Nicola Willis may be right when she suggested to us the other day Chris Hipkins might not be very numerate.

He is undoing himself in front of us. As he does, he reminds us why he has basically done as little as possible these past few years, because when he does he is either in office blowing the place up, or putting out policy in Opposition that makes literally no sense.

He has blocked petrol excise increases for three years.

Kerre Woodham: Hiking the fuel tax would take political courage

It's not often you hear people moaning that taxes should be put up, but we live in interesting times, people. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Transport Minister Chris Bishop yesterday announced that the Government had scrapped the 12 cents per litre fuel increase, with equivalent increases to road user charges, that were planned for January 1st next year.

Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: If you want to cut taxes, accept the bad roads

Now listen, if you're one of the people celebrating Chris Hipkins for promising to cancel fuel tax rises if he wins the election, can I just warn you about the implications of him doing that?

And to be fair, it's not just him, okay?

Kerre Woodham: Politicians need to stop ruling out raising the fuel tax

Labour has jumped on the no new taxes bandwagon, promising that if they're elected, there'll be no increase on the fuel excise duty for their first term.

I don't know why Labour and National don't just join forces and be done with it and leave the left hand side to the Greens, Te Pāti Māori and the Opportunity Party.

Dr Oliver Harwich: Why the Government must resist fuel tax cuts

After five years of stagnation, falling living standards and a cost-of-living crisis that ground down households and businesses, New Zealanders wanted nothing more than a return to normality: a bit of growth, stable prices and the relief of things finally getting better.

At the start of 2026, it looked like that might be happening. The green shoots were there.

The war in the Middle East has shattered that hope. We face spiking oil prices, potential fuel shortages, rising inflation and slower growth.

Dr Matthew Birchall: On the move

On Monday, Transport Minister Simeon Brown released the long-awaited draft Government Policy Statement (GPS) on Land Transport. The GPS outlines the Government’s priorities for investment in New Zealand’s transport network over the next ten years and how it expects NZTA and local authorities to manage the $7 billion annual National Land Transport Fund.

John MacDonald: Labour's stupidity in robbing Peter to pay Paul

I reckon Labour has completely lost the plot this week.

It started on Monday with its daft idea of taking GST off fruit and vegetables. And then, yesterday, it announced that it wants to sting us for more tax on fuel to help pay for all the new roads it wants to build.

A plan which I think National is quite rightfully calling a copycat plan - given that, what Labour is talking about, is pretty much what National is already promising if it forms the next government.

Kerre Woodham: With an election approaching, Labour have fallen in love with roads

What the Dickens is this Government doing?

They take away GST on fruit and veg with one hand, in a blatant vote buying grab, then they slap on 12 cents to the fuel tax with the other hand.

Admittedly, over a period of years, but they seem to have absolutely no idea what they're doing.

Don Brash: The social consequences of controlling inflation through monetary policy

There is now a pretty widely shared consensus that inflation is undesirable for a variety of economic and social reasons. And around the world it has been widely accepted that inflation is best controlled by the central bank varying interest rates so that total demand for goods and services is broadly in line with the economy’s capacity to produce at stable prices.

Heather du Plessis-Allan: The extended fuel tax cut is one election bribe I'll take!

 

Well as far election bribes go, I’ll have this one, thank you!

Good move from Chris Hipkins extending the fuel tax discount through to June. To be fair, he had no choice.

He could hardly start adding tax back onto fuel in the middle of cost of living crisis, could he? 

Honestly, I’m a little surprised by the conversation this afternoon, to hear how many people are ungrateful and are calling it a stupid idea.

Garrick Tremain: Fuel tax

Here is Garrick Tremain's cartoon commentary on Labour's fuel tax yoyo

 

Cam Slater: They’ve Painted Themselves into a Corner

Faced with a perfect storm of falling poll numbers, rising and rampant inflation and poor, reactive decisions of their own making, the Labour Government has been forced to roll over fuel excise and road user charge cuts yet again. They’ve painted themselves into a corner on fuel prices, and the hilarious thing is they’ve used their own paint and brush while doing it.

The latest Taxpayers’ Union/Curia poll shows that the Government has lost traction. The Roy Morgan poll has had a run of seven months showing the Government will lose the next election, and later today the latest inflation figures will show the Government has failed to get that under control.

Eric Crampton: The Government transport policy that gave officials a day to cost it on a Sunday

Just before 3pm on a Sunday afternoon, about a dozen New Zealand Transport Agency and Ministry of Transport officials received a weekend-ruining email. Subject: “Cabinet paper: Urgent.”

It provides a depressing insight into how policy gets made.

The agency that would have to administer a fuel tax and Road User Charge (RUC) holiday had less than a day’s notice that the change was coming.

Important detail had to be filled in after the policy was announced, which also may have prevented improvements that ran counter to what had already been announced.

David Unsworth: French Citizens Want Cheaper Energy, not Global Warming Elitism

French President Emmanuel Macron pursues his global warming agenda at his own political peril.

Diesel moves France. Whereas in the United States diesel is increasingly a rarity used mainly to fuel heavy trucks, drivers in France and much of Europe have diesel cars. In past generations, diesel was believed to be more environmentally friendly. Today, it turns out that is not the case. Diesel is actually far worse for the environment than traditional gasoline.