{"id":10834,"date":"2026-03-10T05:55:44","date_gmt":"2026-03-09T16:55:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/?p=10834"},"modified":"2026-03-09T17:33:29","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T04:33:29","slug":"luxon-and-willis-respond-to-poll-fallout-and-fuel-pressures","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/?p=10834","title":{"rendered":"Luxon and Willis respond to poll fallout and fuel pressures"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
At Monday\u2019s post\u2011Cabinet press conference, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon<\/strong> and Finance Minister Nicola Willis<\/strong> sought to steady nerves after a difficult week for the Government, addressing questions about leadership, poor polling and the rising cost of petrol amid conflict in the Middle East.<\/h6>\n\n\n\n

Luxon insisted clear communication is \u201cabsolutely<\/strong>\u201d important for a prime minister, but pushed back against what he described as an overemphasis on polls. \u201cNew Zealanders out there are not talking about polls. They want to know about the economy and what we\u2019re doing to fix it,\u201d he said, framing his focus on delivery rather than polish. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Prime Minister acknowledged last week \u201cwasn\u2019t the perfect week\u201d but rejected suggestions he had discussed his leadership with party members, saying: \u201cI can assure you I\u2019ll be the leader going into the election on November 7.\u201d He did confirm, however, that he had raised the poll results in passing with ministers during routine discussions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Luxon portrayed himself as a results\u2011driven leader who will not trade substance for soundbites. \u201cI\u2019m not a career politician. I\u2019m not going to have the perfect sound bite,\u201d he said, adding that voters want governments that deliver, not just leaders who communicate well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Standing alongside Luxon, Nicola Willis<\/strong> echoed the Government\u2019s priority on economic stability while addressing immediate concerns about petrol prices following the Iran conflict. Willis announced she will chair a new ministerial oversight group on economic security<\/strong>, tasked with monitoring fuel and supply chains and coordinating the Government\u2019s response to international shocks. \u201cAs a government, we need to focus on controlling what we can control,\u201d Luxon said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the question of cutting the fuel tax to ease pump prices, Willis was cautious. She said the Government is not currently considering<\/strong> a fuel\u2011tax cut, warning that \u201cshort\u2011term gain could lead to longer\u2011term pain.\u201d Willis pointed to the fiscal cost of borrowing and the risk of undermining infrastructure projects funded by the fuel tax \u2014 including a planned 12\u2011cent per litre rise next year that has not yet been legislated. Cabinet, she said, will be \u201cmindful\u201d of the cost of fuel before any decision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Willis also reassured the public that New Zealand is not facing a fuel shortage, citing a national fuel plan and robust stock levels: up to 28 days on hand and a further 29 days en route. The Government will continue to monitor trade disruption and shipping risks, including the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, which could push up global freight and fuel costs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both ministers sought to shift attention from political turbulence to policy: Luxon on team building and delivery, Willis on contingency planning and fiscal caution \u2014 a message aimed at reassuring voters ahead of a testing election year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At Monday\u2019s post\u2011Cabinet press conference, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Finance Minister Nicola Willis sought to steady nerves after a difficult week for the Government, addressing questions about leadership, poor polling and the rising cost of petrol amid conflict in the Middle East. Luxon insisted clear communication is \u201cabsolutely\u201d important for a prime minister, but<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10836,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[178,113,257],"coauthors":[709],"class_list":{"0":"post-10834","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-zealand","8":"tag-iran","9":"tag-new-zealand","10":"tag-politics"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10834","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10834"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10834\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10837,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10834\/revisions\/10837"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10836"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10834"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10834"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10834"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcoauthors&post=10834"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}