Kerre Woodham: The Greens' fuel relief package should be seriously considered

In today's edition of Fuel Watch, the Green Party is offering its votes to the National Party to get on with passing what the Greens call a sensible and urgent fossil fuel crisis relief package.

And you know what, it is quite sensible.

They're not suggesting a horse and cart for every home - that's sensible. With the Greens and National's combined 63 votes, the Greens say you don't need any other political party to get this through.

Their proposed package includes making public transport free for users, not forever, just while the Straits of Hormuz are compromised, a relief payment for low income people or people who live rurally to help meet additional transport costs, a windfall profits tax to prevent corporate price gouging, that's particularly Green, I think you'd be fair to say, reversing changes to school bus eligibility and routes, temporary expansion of eligibility for school buses, reversing the government's intended reduction in total mobility support for disabled people, and increasing the mileage rates to the 23,000 care and support workers to meet their actual travel costs, which we discussed the other day.

Now, none of these are particularly silly, are they?

Chlöe Swarbrick, the Green Party co leader, says New Zealanders expect politicians to do everything we can to support people through this immediate crisis and to minimise future vulnerability by reducing fossil fuel dependence. And she's not wrong.

You know, normally we would probably be able to weather this particular storm. It won't last forever, there'll be a resolution one way or the other.

And, normally families would be able to accommodate this, but it's been five years of scrimping and saving and compromising for many, many working families.

You know, they've had to cope with inflation and increases in mortgage payments or rents, increased food costs, increased insurance, increased rates, things that you simply cannot compromise on.

These are things you have to have, they're not nice-to-haves, they're must-haves, and it's been tough going.

And for many families, this is like the straw that breaks the camel's back.

It wouldn't be forever, the sort of relief they're talking about.

It wouldn't be, I suppose they'd quite like to see, you know, public transport being free forever, but you know, I think that's not what they've said.

They've said that there are people right now who are hurting, who cannot, cannot make any further compromises in their budgets, and they need assistance.

I don't think there's a lot wrong with what they're suggesting.

I know this coalition government, quite rightly, is wary of throwing money out to all and sundry, as we saw with the Covid spend up, but I'm absolutely certain they have the tools and the philosophy to target assistance where it should be targeted, as the Prime Minister bangs on, you know, timely, targeted, and temporary.

So that's precisely what the Greens are suggesting. Nicola Willis, the Finance Minister, has ruled out across the board price cuts, fair enough, not everybody does need support.

We grabbed the PM on his way out after chatting to Mike and said, well come on, what about the Greens? And he said, "yes, yes, yes, we're already working on some of these measures", but all very well and good. 

The people who need support needed it last week, not yes, yes, yes, we're working on it, you know, in the future. People need it now to get to work. And people are willing to use the buses.

I don't know what's happening in your city, but in Auckland, it recorded its busiest day on public transport in seven years, and that was last Tuesday. 7,000 more trips than the previous busiest day, which was two weeks ago.

So people are, are feeling it.

And if they can make alternative transport arrangements, they will. And if they find, through trying out public transport, that it actually works for them, that's got to benefit everybody.

The road users, public transport, people's pockets.

Just because the Greens suggest something, I don't think it should be dismissed or snorted at, you take every suggestion on its merits, and in this particular case, I think the Greens have got a point.

I note that their targeted assistance didn't cover the food producers, and I think they could probably do with a break.

I think John talked about that when he was doing the show.

You know, and they may well be able to get through this without having to hoick the prices up too much.

I suppose it's a bit much to expect the Greens to offer targeted assistance to food producers. They seem to think we should all be breatharians, but does this cover off the Green's suggestion, the public transport free for users for a certain amount of time, a relief payment for low income people or people who live rurally, increasing the mileage rates fo

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Carrywood and Morning's podcast from News Talks,
he'd be.

Speaker 2 (00:11):
In today's edition of Fuel Watch, the Green Party is
offering its votes to the National Party to get on
with passing what the Greens call a sensible and urgent
fossil fuel crisis relief package, and yew what is quite sensible.
They're not suggesting a horse and cart for every home.

(00:33):
You know that's sensible. With the Greens and Nationals combined
sixty three votes, the Green say you don't need any
other political party to get this through. Their proposed package
includes making public transport free for users, not forever, just
while the straits of Amor's are compromised. A relief payment
for low income people or people who live rually to

(00:55):
help meet additional transport costs. A windfall profits tax to
prevent corporate price gouging. That's particularly green, I think you're
fair to say, reversing changes to school bus eligibility and routes,
temporary expansion of eligibility for school buses, reversing the government's
intended reduction in total mobility support for disabled people, and

(01:19):
increasing the MILAG traits to the twenty three thousand care
in support workers to meet their actual travel costs, which
we discussed the other day. Now, none of these are
particularly silly, are they. Chloe s Warbrock, the Green Party
co leaders, says New Zealanders expect politicians to do everything
we can to support people through this immediate crisis and

(01:43):
to minimize future vulnerability by reducing fossil fuel dependence. And
she's not wrong. Normally we would probably be able to
weather this particular storm. It won't last forever. There'll be
a resolution one way or the other, and normally families

(02:04):
would be able to accommodate this. It's been five years
of scrimping and saving and compromising for many, many working families.
They've had to cope with inflation and increases in mortgage
payments or rents, increased food costs, increased insurance, increased rates,

(02:29):
things that you simply cannot compromise on. These are things
you have to have. They're not nice to have, there
must haves, and it's been tough going and for many families,
this is like the straw that breaks the camel's back.
It wouldn't be forever, the sort of relief they're talking about,

(02:54):
it wouldn't be I suppose they'd quite like to see
public transport being free forever. But you know, I think
that's not what they've said. They've said that there are
people right now who are hurting, who cannot cannot make
any further compromises in their budgets, and they need assistance.

(03:17):
I don't think there's a lot wrong with what they're suggesting.
I know this coalition government quite rightly is wary of
throwing money out to Walln's sundry, as we saw with
the COVID spend up, but I'm absolutely certain they have
the tools and the philosophy to target assistance where it
should be targeted, as the Prime Minister bangs on, timely,
targeted and temporary. So that's precisely what the Greens are suggesting.

(03:44):
Nikola Willis, the Finance Minister, has ruled out across the
board price cuts fair enough, not everybody does need support.
We grabbed the PM on his way out after chatting
to Mike and said, well, come on, what about the
Greens And he said, yes, yes, yes, we're already working
on some of these measures, but all very well and good.

(04:05):
The people who support needed it last week, not yessses,
we're working on it. You know in the future. People
need it now to get to work, and people are
willing to use the buses. I don't know what's happening
in your city, but in Auckland it recorded its busiest

(04:26):
day on public transport in seven years, and that was
last Tuesday, seven thousand more trips than the previous busiest day,
which was two weeks ago. So people are feeling it
and if they can make alternative transport arrangements, they will,
And if they find through trying out public transport that

(04:48):
it actually works for them, that's got to benefit everybody,
the road users, public transport, people's pockets. Just because the
Greens suggest something, I don't think it should be dismissed
or snorted at, or you take every suggestion on its merits,

(05:10):
and in this particular case, I think the Greens have
got a point. I note that their targeted assistants didn't
cover the food producers, and I think they could probably
do with a break. I think John talked about that
on Thursday or Friday, didn't he when he was doing

(05:31):
the show, you know, And they may well be able
to get through this without having to hoit the prices
up too much. I suppose it's but much to expect
the Greens to offer targeted assistance to food producers. I
seem to think we should all be Bretherians. But does

(05:54):
this cover off the Green suggestion the public transport free
for users for a certain amount of time, a relief
payment for low income people or people who live rually
increasing the mileage rates for the care and support workers.
I don't see that as being particularly egregiously extravagant towards silly,

(06:16):
your nonsensical. These are the people who need help, who
need it now, and who need that help while the
oil prices are going through the roof, and consequently the
price of the pump is going through the roof. There's
only so much people can take, and they've taken a
lot these working families for the last five to six years.

(06:40):
Oh eight hundred eighty ten eighty is the number. Cale
would you like to see the government working with the
Greens for this kind of targeted assistance. It would show
a certain amount of maturity. I suppose to show that
you can work across the political spectrum.

Speaker 1 (06:58):
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