Robot Muldoom — NZ Politics, Unfiltered

Today's Top Stories

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The Spinoff · Business

New Zealand's petrol supply is terrifyingly fragile

One Iranian standoff, one blocked strait, and suddenly New Zealand is fighting over diesel like it's the last sausage at a school fundraiser. Turns out decades of "the market will sort it" left us with exactly one fuel resupply pipeline and the strategic reserves of a forgetful camper. The government's response: look competent at the podium and hope the tankers arrive before the budget.

RNZ · National

Is Nicola Willis's 'worst-case' scenario not bad enough?

Willis unveiled her "worst-case" fiscal forecast, and economists are already tutting at the back. When your floor is someone else's ceiling, you have a planning problem. Kiwis facing fuel shocks, sticky inflation, and a Reserve Bank that's been steering by rear-view mirror deserve a Finance Minister whose bad-case scenario actually reaches the bottom.

Newsroom · Economy

Minister 'disappointed' by Stats NZ bungling critical inflation figure

Stats NZ over-egged the food price data, it fed straight into the Reserve Bank's rate decision, and the minister is "disappointed." Disappointed! A wrong inflation number helped keep mortgage rates higher for thousands of households — you'd think the response might edge toward "furious" rather than mildly let down at a school fair.

The Spinoff · Politics

New poll offers solace for Luxon, but election hangs by a thread

Luxon gets a "solace" poll while his government manages a fuel crisis on vibes. The thread the election hangs by is apparently the same one holding the country's petrol supply. Labour, meanwhile, is still working out what year it is. A race to the bottom between a government running on empty and an opposition that can't find the car keys.

RNZ · Political

Why the government backed away from breaking up supermarkets

The duopoly holds. After years of hand-wringing about grocery prices, the government looked competition reform in the eye — and flinched. The two major chains can rest easy, because apparently regulating a market that gouges ordinary families is just too complicated. Progressively: Kiwis get to pay more for less while the policy retreats to committee.

The Kākā by Bernard Hickey · Economy

Triple whammy of inflation, rate hikes & lower NZ$

Inflation up, rates sticky, dollar sinking — Hickey names the unholy trinity hitting Kiwi households right now. Three forces, none of them the government's "fault," all of them making life measurably harder for anyone with a mortgage, a car, or an appetite. The compounding is the killer: each of these would be survivable alone. Together, they're a budget-wrecking machine.

Reckons

What the feed is saying

@kentduston.bsky.social

"The challenge is the one of optics versus action: sure, Willis looks competent and in control, but she hasn't actually done anything about addressing the crisis. And optics won't cut much ice in the fuel rationing queue."

Read on Bluesky →

@nzdodo.bsky.social (Jolisa Gracewood)

"Reading NZ Labour's election-year policies (such as have emerged so far) is starting to feel a wee bit like stumbling across a letter-in-a-bottle that just washed up… dated a few years ago. There's a massive positive opportunity here to truly meet the moment."

Read on Bluesky →