RNZ · Fri, 27 Mar
Earlier this month, Hipkins said the Ministry of Health never passed expert advice about potential risk to teenagers on to ministers.
The specific claim — that expert advice about risk to teenagers wasn't passed to ministers — is either accurate or it isn't, and the documentary record of what was advised when and to whom should be retrievable, which means this dispute is resolvable with evidence rather than assertion. Covid decision-making accountability matters for public trust in health institutions and future crisis response, so getting the factual record right is more important than protecting any individual's reputation. If the advice flow was as described, that's a serious institutional question about how risk information moved through the system; if it wasn't, that's a different kind of serious problem.
RNZ · Fri, 27 Mar
A prominent backer of the Lake Onslow pumped hydro scheme says he's already fielding interest from international investors.
The previous government killed Lake Onslow; this one is considering fast-tracking it — which is either a vindication of the project's merits or a fuel crisis making previously unthinkable infrastructure suddenly thinkable, probably both. Pumped hydro at Onslow would be transformational for NZ's energy security and renewable baseload, and international investor interest suggests the commercial case is more compelling than the political case was in 2023. The fast-track process exists for exactly this kind of nationally significant infrastructure — the question is whether the government has the conviction to follow through or whether this is crisis-driven kite-flying that evaporates when oil prices stabilise.
Newsroom · Sat, 28 Mar · Marc Daalder
Comment: The path to political silver linings in the fuel crisis is contracting as the risk it could turn out to be fool's gold grows, writes Marc Daalder.
The 'silver linings' framing was always fragile — it required the crisis to be short, the government's response to look competent, and voters to credit incumbents for managing events they didn't cause. All three conditions are now under pressure simultaneously, and the political window for converting crisis management into electoral asset is closing faster than the fuel supply picture is improving. Fool's gold is the right metaphor: it looks like an opportunity until you try to spend it.
The Kākā · Thu, 26 Mar · Bernard Hickey
Retailers set to force Govt to reverse ban on card surcharges after lobbying campaign with ACT & NZ First; Another example of vested interests blocking pro-consumer reform that would lower inflation
A lobbying campaign that successfully reverses a pro-consumer, anti-inflation policy reform is a case study in how well-organised industry interests consistently outmanoeuvre diffuse consumer benefit — retailers have concentrated motivation and access, consumers have neither. Card surcharges are a regressive cost that falls hardest on people who can least afford them, and the government abandoning the ban under pressure from ACT and NZ First coalition partners signals that the reform agenda is negotiable when the right lobbyists are in the room. The inflation framing is important: this is not a neutral outcome, it is a choice to allow a pricing practice that adds cost to every transaction to continue.
RNZ · Sun, 29 Mar
The Ministry for Regulation is now urging businesses, fuel users, freight operators, and the wider public to report issues.
Crowdsourcing regulatory friction points during an active fuel crisis is a reasonable use of the Ministry for Regulation's remit — the people who know where the rules are causing problems are the freight operators and fuel users actually trying to move product around the country right now. The risk is that 'avoiding red tape' in a crisis can become cover for waiving safety or environmental compliance that exists for good reasons, so the quality of the filtering process matters as much as the volume of feedback collected. If the ministry acts quickly on genuine blockages, this is useful; if it becomes a post-crisis deregulation wish list dressed up as emergency response, that's a different outcome entirely.
