Running On Fumes: Alliance Says Coalition Has No Real Plan For Energy Security – Alliance Party

Alliance Party Leader Victor Billot says Finance Minister Nicola Willis’s latest comments on the national fuel crisis was confirmation that the Government are “making things up as they go.”

Speaking from the site of the shuttered Marsden Point refinery, Willis today claimed the country holds seven weeks of fuel stocks.

However, standing in front of an overseas tanker, she was forced to concede that this buffer is “dependent on ships like this continuing to turn up.”

New Zealand no longer has any of its own coastal tankers, since Channel Infrastructure closed the Marsden Point refinery, and cancelled its contract for New Zealand flagged and crewed tankers.

Mr Billot says it was fitting that Ms Willis was today dressed in shiny new PPE safety gear supplied by Channel Infrastructure.

“This is a fantastic reminder of how her Government have kept us in thrall to global fossil fuel dinosaurs, whose decisions are entirely based on their profit margins rather than our wellbeing.”

Mr. Billot says our total reliance on foreign-owned tankers leaves our supply lines at the mercy of offshore interests and international shipping operators.

“If the owners of foreign tankers decide the route to New Zealand is too risky or less profitable than a route to elsewhere, our pumps go dry. The idea that contracts will be honoured if the situation worsens is a simple fantasy.”

Mr Billot says New Zealanders need fuel security, but the Coalition has delivered scripted fluff.

He says the rapid shift in Government messaging over the last fortnight, moving from complacent silence to “crisis briefings” was disturbing, and showed a Government trying to “manage the message rather than manage fuel security.”

“There were repeated warnings from seafarers to keep our New Zealand-flagged coastal tankers for supply and storage resilience. Now, we are an island nation with no domestic refining capacity and not a single New Zealand-crewed tanker that could assist with obtaining overseas supplies.”

The Alliance Party argues that the current threat of a catastrophic fuel shortage is the direct result of neoliberal policies that prioritised “just-in-time” delivery over national resilience.

The Alliance has practical policies that will deliver energy security:

• Restore New Zealand Control: Return key energy infrastructure including electricity to 100% public ownership.
• Free Public Transport: Free public transport (bus and train) for the duration of the crisis, and going forward.
• Resilient Supply Chains: State-led delivery of an electrified national rail network and coastal shipping (including tankers) that ensures our supply chain resilience.
• KiwiWorks Infrastructure: The creation of a 21st-century Ministry of Works “KiwiWorks” to deliver cost-effective infrastructure and technical capacity.
• An Electric Future: An accelerated “just transition” to climate-friendly renewables that frees New Zealand from fossil fuel dependency.

“We need to build a resilient and self-reliant nation in a volatile and quickly changing world.”