Irony in fuel price response

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is convinced Kiwis are being ‘‘fleeced’’ when they pay for petrol. ‘‘As a moral stance, I think New Zealanders are paying too much,’’ Ardern said.

With motorists paying almost $2.50 a litre for petrol in many parts of the country, it is understandable that the issue is back in the headlines, and that the Government wants to be seen to be taking action.

The problem is, the action being taken is to ask the Commerce Commission – effectively the referee on whether consumers are being ripped off – to investigate. These studies tend to take about a year.

If Ardern is already convinced that a rort is taking place and Energy Minister Megan Woods believes the market is ‘‘broken’’ as she said in May, why are they bothering to investigate?

Not only is the Government is putting immense pressure on the independent competition regulator to give it the answer it wants, Ardern may be stalling for time because her Government does not know what it will do to fix the problem.

If Ardern thinks public or political pressure on the fuel industry will make a difference, she is likely to be disappointed.

BP admitted that when emails detailing its pricing tactics north of Wellington emerged this year – showing it increased prices at several stations to stem losses at another – its staff faced abuse from motorists.

This did not stop the company increasing prices in the days following a week of unprecedented attention.

On September 30, a hike in excise tax pushed petrol prices

up another 4c, and threats of a boycott of fuel companies began spreading on Facebook. Yet again, the industry raised prices.

The petrol companies have long denied that motorists are being ripped off and have been prepared to stare down the Beehive before.

National says the reason for the recent increase is the tax imposed by the Government. Not only is that flat out wrong in most parts of the country, it ignores that National too raised tax on petrol and would almost certainly have kept doing so if it had continued to govern.

Simon Bridges also criticised Ardern for announcing ‘‘yet another inquiry’’, when for years National failed to give the Commerce Commission the teeth it needed to investigate a market it also believed was flawed. Had it acted earlier, we may be closer to a definitive answer.

But the Government’s urgency has a rich irony. Ardern has described climate change as New Zealand’s ‘‘nuclear-free moment’’.

Her Government has seen fit to crack down on the oil exploration industry, ending new offshore permits. But the reason our climate is warming is not because fossil fuels are being extracted, it is because people are burning them.

But yesterday, Ardern’s ‘‘moral stance’’ was that Kiwis are paying too much to do the very thing she believes threatens the planet.