Government not yet considering removing $50 fuel payment despite prices falling under $3

Tuesday, 21 July 2026

Soaring petrol and diesel prices have pushed New Zealand's inflation to 4.1% in the June quarter, its highest level in two years. The spike raises expectations of further Official Cash Rate increases by the Reserve Bank.

Finance Minister Nicola Willis says she has no plans to consider lifting the $50 a week fuel payment for working families despite a fortnight of pump prices below $3 a litre because they are making calls in a “volatile” environment and it’s difficult to predict the future while Donald Trump is in the White House.

When the “timely, temporary, targeted” payment was announced, the government said it would be temporary - lasting either a year or until the price of 91 petrol drops below $3 a litre for four consecutive weeks.

However, in response to questions from Stuff, Willis confirmed that conversations about removing the payment would only occur after those four weeks and this was not an automatic trigger for removal of the payment, rather a trigger for “conversations” about removing the payment.

“We need to consider all of the factors at the time, but we always set that this was intended to be there as a temporary measure, and that if prices were being sustained below $3 then that would be a trigger for lifting it,” she said.

Ministry of Transport data seen by Stuff shows the government tracking of nationally averaged 91 prices below $3 a litre for the check-ins of the first and second weeks of July, at $2.97 and $2.94.

“We're still monitoring that very closely. As you observe, with things heating up in the Middle East again, we have seen international oil prices come up from their lows,” she said. “Unfortunately, I do expect to see that reflected at the pump in New Zealand.”

Willis indicated she would be reluctant to remove the payment if there was any indication of prices spiking again.

“Obviously, when we do that consideration, we will take into account all of the factors at the time, ie, are we expecting that the prices will be spiking up again? Do we expect that they will remain low? What do we expect to see?” she said.

David Seymour wants to see the $50 payment stopped if petrol stays under $3 a litre for another two weeks

Deputy Prime Minister David Seymour says if we reach four weeks, he wants to see the payment stop.

“At that point, the government can remove that extra payment, and I think we should. We're not made of money,” he said.

When asked whether it was likely that the government would remove the payment before the election - Willis pointed to uncertainty surrounding the actions of the US president.

“The challenge at the moment is just that we're in a volatile environment. We saw prices come well down, and now we're seeing them creep back up again, so we need to be mindful of that and take into account all of the latest data, and not do a hypothetical predicting what may happen in the future.

“If there's anything we've seen over the past few months, is that it's difficult to predict the future when Donald Trump is the president,” Willis said.