Even though the New Zealand government is making the fuel situation sound a bit more urgent than it had been up until now, sounding slightly a bit more antsy than it was, I bet it still isn't enough to satisfy the head of the International Energy Agency.

Fatih Birol is blasting governments around the world, not just ours, for not being as upfront as they should be about the economic carnage from the Iran war.

The International Energy Agency essentially works with countries around the world in the energy sector and, when there are supply disruptions like we have at the moment, gives advice on solutions. It's also in charge of deciding whether to dip into energy reserves to keep supplies going.

Fatih Birol is saying today that the fuel crisis is worse than the combined impacts of the three biggest energy shocks in modern history. And he says that we would be better prepared if we fully understood the magnitude of the economic impacts.

He doesn't think we are because he says our politicians are sugarcoating the situation and says he's had to come out and say what he's saying today because he doesn't think people fully understand the economic consequences of Iran shutting down the Strait of Hormuz.

And he's laying the blame at the feet of politicians who he says should be making people aware that this isn't going to end when the war ends.

Politicians should be making people aware that there are going to be consequences for some time to come. He says households need to be better informed about the magnitude of the challenge we are facing.

“I think they'd be better prepared if they understood what we are facing and what we are dealing with.”

Tell that to politicians though, eh? Especially politicians like the ones here who want to get elected later on this year.

I get it that the last thing government politicians, especially, want in an election year is to say that things are going to be pear-shaped for some time yet.

Because voters don't want to hear that. But I think in the medium to long term, I reckon the Government would have far more credibility if it did do what the head of the International Energy Agency wants it to do and be as upfront as humanly possible.

Because you think about it, all we're hearing from the Government is how much fuel supplies we've got. We're not hearing anything from the Government about what this is going to mean beyond that.

If our politicians had the guts, they'd be telling us right now.

LISTEN ABOVE

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This fuel situation is starting to feel like herding cats.

You’ve got the government, on one hand, going on about seven weeks supply. Don’t panic, keep calm and carry on.

The government is also talking about this rescue package for low-to-middle income earners.

Then you’ve got the hoarders filling up drums and jerry cans with petrol and diesel. I met one on the weekend.

He was doing the drums and the cans but he was also using the fuel tank in his boat for storage. He was a tradie and said all the farming mates he was out with are doing the same.

And now we’ve got businesses deciding to take their own course of action, and some are either putting their prices up or adding fuel surcharges.

One in Christchurch has just announced that, unless customers go to them, they’re going to have to pay an extra $5 while the fuel prices remain high because of the situation in the middle east.

It’s even offering free finance options for people with a community services card.

Didi, the rideshare outfit similar to Uber which operates in Auckland and Wellington, is also introducing a fuel surcharge from Wednesday. Charging passengers 5 cents per kilometre.

Which raises the question: is this reasonable, given we’re all in this boat together?

My view is that a specific surcharge is much more reasonable than a random increase in prices.

There’s a pie shop in the nelson area that has just announced that the prices of its pies are going up 50 cents.

The owner of the shop says the increase is happening immediately, and she’s doing it because the fuel prices have increased her costs by 20 percent.

She says she has no option.

The thing is, though, how do customers know her costs have gone up 20 percent? How does the bakery owner know that charging 50 cents more for a pie is what’s needed to cover that increase?

And more to the point, when this is all over and the fuel prices are down again, are the pies going to be 50 cents cheaper? I bet they won’t be.

Which is why I think a temporary surcharge is a fairer way of doing it.

LISTEN ABOVE

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I reckon the Government is going about this fuel price rescue package the wrong way. It seems to think it's doing the right thing picking low-to-middle income earners who, it assumes, are struggling to pay the higher fuel prices.

Of course, someone on the minimum wage, for example, is going to be harder hit by $3.30, $3.40, $3.50 a litre than someone earning $100K.

Finance Minister Nicola Willis says the people the Government wants to help are the working New Zealanders who have little option each day but to get in the car and drive to work. It wants to avoid a blanket cut to the fuel tax and it doesn't want to invent a new scheme of income assistance from scratch.

As the Minister puts it, she wants something that doesn't involve any paperwork. Which sounds like tax credits to me. But I think the Government needs to lift its sights and think a little bit more strategically about this.

It should be thinking about the wider consequences of higher fuel prices, however long they continue. And, instead of paying a few bucks to people on the lower pay grades, what it should be doing is providing support or providing interventions for the likes of food growers, food manufacturers, the transport and logistics sectors. Because all of those groups, they're paying higher fuel prices. But they don't just suck them up like your average motorist does. They pass them on, don't they?

Which means the low-to-middle income people being compensated for spending more on diesel and petrol for their vehicles will still be paying more for their bread and their fruit and their veggies. Any savings will just be cancelled-out by costs passed on to them from the food processors or producers, the manufacturers, the transport sector and the farmers at the supermarket checkout.

Maybe the Government's trying to avoid the type of criticism that would inevitably come its way if it did what I think it should be doing. Because there would be no shortage of people saying it was just looking after its people and the fat cat farmers and the corporate food manufacturers.

Can't you hear it? But all the Government would have to say to quieten-down those people is that, if it didn‘t, they’d be paying more anyway.

LISTEN ABOVE

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.