Politics Central

New Zealand First has announced they will be campaigning on a new policy to end the supermarket duopoly. 

The policy would give the Commerce Commission powers to enforce increased penalties for breaches and reform the role of the Groceries Commissioner, which the party says is currently toothless. 

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The National Party have called in former broadcaster Rachel Smalley to help Auckland based MPs, including the prime minister, with their communications and media work ahead of the election this year. 

It's come after the public have started to notice Luxon becoming less confident and stumbling over his words recently - in contrast to the precise and decided communication style he's had in the past. 

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Cyclone Vaianu has hit our shores and some regions are being hit particularly hard. 

The East Coast has seen gusts of up to 130 kilometres an hour, thousands of homes in Northland and the Bay of Plenty are without power, and weather watches and warnings remain in place for the whole North Island and parts of the South Island. 

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It's election year again in New Zealand, and it's a process that we're all familiar with. 

But few are more familiar than Former PM Helen Clark and Former National MP Maurice Williamson, who joined Tim Beverige to look at what we can expect from election year. 

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The latest numbers, as at one week ago, there were 24 days of petrol and 18 days of diesel in the country. 

Things are looking to worsen for the foreseeable future, although an uptick in public transport use and EV purchases point to people taking things into their own hands. 

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New Zealand First will be campaigning on a policy that would see half of all mining royalties go to the region from which it came, rather than Wellington. 

The party says it would build up wealth and infrastructure in the regions, allowing for future development rather than having the money spent across wider national projects. 

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Winston Peters has delivered NZ First's State of the Nation address - the final one ahead of the looming election. 

Peters also announced a National Energy Strategy that would break up power companies, no longer allowing them to control both power and the price. 

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New Zealand has just over 50 days worth of petrol, and a week less of diesel, while the war in Iran wages on. 

The closure of the Strait of Hormuz continues to impact the global oil supply, and the countries we generally import oil from are considering closing up shop on exports to ensure their own security.

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Prices are up at the pump, auto shops are selling out of jerry cans, and we've seen the reports of thousand litre IBC tanks being filled up at BP. 

It's raised the question around whether the closure of Marsden Point has been more harmful to New Zealand's fuel security that we had initially realised. 

New Zealand would still be reliant on imports to meet fuel needs, but having the ability to import crude oil rather than just refined oil would likely lift the pressure.

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The Prime Minister's leadership within his own party is being questioned after he didn't fare well in a Taxpayers' Union poll this week. 

It has National down 2.9 points to 28.4% - but most notably, it suggests that the centre-left bloc could form a government in November. It'll be very tight though, with 61 seats for the left and 59 for the right. 

Luxon sits at 21% for preferred prime minister, while Hipkins is at 22.7%. 

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