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.

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New Zealand's economy wasn't doing as well as we thought, even before war broke out in the Middle East.

Latest Stats NZ data shows GDP rose just 0.2% in the December quarter – well under the Reserve Bank forecast of 0.5%.

Inflation hit 3.1% in the quarter, above the central Bank's forecast of 2.7%.

The Herald's Liam Dann told John MacDonald if the Iran conflict continues, we could be at risk of "stagflation" – a combination of high inflation and low growth seen in the 1970s.

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While I don't like the idea of us being dragged into the AUKUS military alliance with Australia, the UK, and the US, I think what the government's doing creating something along the lines of an ANZAC defence force - I think it makes a truckload of sense.

The plan is that by 2035 there'll be an integrated, combat capable Australia New Zealand defence force. Combat capable is the particularly interesting bit.

I don't know about you, but I was a little bit surprised when I heard about this plan. Although it does seem that it's been on the cards for a while now, especially when you consider some of the new kit that the Government's buying for the New Zealand Defence Force and how it matches what Australia's got.

As for AUKUS, Defence Minister Judith Collins was asked whether this will align us with it. And she said it won't. But the proof of course will be in the pudding. And it's probably easy in some ways for Judith to say that given that her political career is finishing up.

Nevertheless, in principle, I think it's a no brainer. As Judith said this morning, we're a very small country in terms of population, but our defence force has got to spread itself very thinly over a very wide area. Here, throughout the Pacific and the Antarctic region.

She says effectively joining forces with Australia is a much more clever way of making the most of our defence resources and making the most of Australia's defence resources.

So no argument from me. But I'm not convinced about us being able to do this without being dragged into the AUKUS alliance in some way, shape, or form. And I'm picking that former Prime Minister Helen Clark will be thinking along the same lines. Because last year, when there was speculation or discussion that the Government might be thinking about signing New Zealand up as some sort of second tier member of AUKUS, she said we shouldn't be touching it with a barge pole.

According to Helen Clark, if you’re an ally, you can get dragged into all sorts of things that you shouldn't be dragged into or don't want to be dragged into.

Although I think we're seeing that allies are learning to say no to each other a bit more often. Which is why Donald Trump's nose is out of joint.

But if we go on what Judith Collins is saying, and I'm prepared to, the New Zealand Defence Force will still think for itself and will still be in charge of its own people. She says, "We'll make our own sovereign decisions. These are our people in our uniforms." And here's what I think is the most reassuring part. Judith Collins says "If the Australians were doing something we weren't happy with, we'll pull our people out," noting that Australia would be free to do the same.

So the way I see it, this is nothing more than a common-sense approach for a tiny country which has let its defence force run on the smell of an oily rag for far too long. We're playing catch up now, sure, but we are dreaming if we think we can do it all on our own.

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There’s no doubt the Government has failed us on food prices.

But then, it was always going to. In fact, any politician who says they’re going to bring food prices down is dreaming.

This election year, if you hear any of them saying they’re going to get on top of the costs of living and you’ll be paying less at the supermarket if you vote for them, just block your ears.

Tell them to go and talk to some other mug because you know it’s impossible and they’ll never do it.

And this is not me having a go at any particular political party or any particular political ideology.

Remember last election, we had Labour trying to push the idea of no GSTon fruit and veggies?

Grant Robertson had always been against it but, obviously, realised Labour was pushing it uphill, and he just went along with it because he thought there might be enough clowns who would fall for it.

I didn’t. I saw it for what it was. Because prices for things still go up whether or not there are taxes.

That was Labour‘s big idea last election and we’re yet to see anything meaningful from them this time around. That’s because politicians can do very little when it comes to food prices.

If you’ve been at the supermarket and thought the price of mince is a bit steep, you’d be right.

In the past year, mince has gone up 23.2 percent. The largest increase on record.

Fruit and vegetable prices are up too, by nearly 10 percent.

Now, granted, there have been some decreases month-on-month, but that doesn’t change the fact that, compared to this time last year, we are paying way more for food.

Nicola Willis talked a big game on food prices. She was going to crack down on the supermarkets. She was going to bring prices down.

She hauled the Fonterra boss into her office to talk about the price of butter. It was all grand gestures with very little to show for it.

But that’s not Nicola Willis’ fault. Just like she wouldn’t be able to take the credit if prices went down.

And it’s not Nicola Willis’ fault or the fault of anyone in the current government because, when it comes down to it, politicians don’t and can’t bring food prices down.

If you want to point the finger at anyone, point it at the people who believe politicians when they say they can.

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Labour Leader Chris Hipkins doesn't want people to read too much into him considering his political future as ripples spread from personal allegations made by his ex-wife.

Jade Paul posted claims on a private Facebook page on Sunday that are now deleted, none of Paul's allegations related to unlawful conduct.

Hipkins says it wasn't a long deliberation, saying that he recognises the political spotlight can mean loved ones pay a significant price.

"I still love my job and I am absolutely committed to it."

Speaking about the since-deleted post, The Leader of the Opposition said he denies the allegations and is not commenting further on them at this stage.

"I'm putting my children first, and I'm not going to get into a public debate with my ex-wife about the breakup of our marriage."

He also spoke to John MacDonald about the Governments position on potentially aiding the United States in the Strait of Hormuz, and the rise of fuel and food prices in New Zealand.

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Maybe my head is in the sand, but all this excitement about fuel prices isn’t making me any more inclined to buy an electric vehicle.

Tell that to the people who are getting all excited and buying them. In big numbers too, it seems.

So we’ve got the government warning that petrol prices could hit $4 a litre and EV dealers saying they’re being run off their feet because of the ongoing situation in the middle east.

BYD sold 80 on Saturday across the country. Normally they’d sell 25 on an average Saturday. So that’s a major increase.

Here in Christchurch, EV dealerships are reporting a major leap in sales too, with one of them selling out entirely in just two days.

People are coming from as far away as nelson to get their hands on electric vehicles too, apparently.

How things can change. In November, the EV dealers were ripping-in to the government for the changes it was making to the clean car standards for imported vehicles and we were all talking about the EV bubble busting.

Fast-forward four months and throw in a bit of good old fashioned kiwi over-reaction, and the picture is very different.

This war has only been going two-and-a-bit weeks but that’s enough, it seems, for some people to want to go all EV on it.

I drive petrol cars. And, at this point, i have no intention of switching to an EV.

One of my vehicles, especially, is a real gas guzzler. But despite that, I have never had any interest in owning an EV. I can‘t tell you exactly why. It’s not a protest of any sort. It’s not climate change denial. It’s none of that.

I’m just not interested. And I am no more interested now, despite the war and the fuel prices.

And i reckon that, once the oil tankers start sailing again through the strait of Hormuz, most people will still be happy with petrol and diesel vehicles.

The other thing too is, that if i was buying an EV, I'd spend quite a bit of time looking into it.

You wouldn’t get me seeing a few days of petrol price increases and going all knee-jerk on it.

But the ev people are loving it that some people are.

DTR motors in Hornby had six cars on the lot on Friday night. By Sunday, they were all gone.

Alex Wu is the sales manager. He says: “people just showed up, even from nelson, paid and drove off.”

He says the weekend was the most “explosive” sales period in the nearly two years that DTR motors has been operating in Christchurch.

And that’s without any rebate assistance from the government.

Which Finance Minister Nicola Willis said yesterday wouldn’t be making a comeback. Saying: "i simply don't accept the idea that giving subsidies to millionaires in Remuera would help those afflicted by high petrol prices."

Nevertheless, EV’s are in demand again. So how tempted are you?

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I’ve got a story which has Covid-19 toilet paper mania written all over it.

I was blown away talking to someone in Christchurch at the weekend who said they’d been out and bought a whole lot of extra food because of the fuel situation with everything going on in the Middle East.

This is not something I endorse and it certainly isn’t something I'll be doing. But maybe the fact that they are British has something to do with it.

Because they were saying that they remembered the time when Britain invaded Iraq and the government telling people then to stockpile.

They said they were told they should have a month’s worth of non-perishable food in the cupboards. And that’s what they did.

So, as soon as they started hearing about fuel tanks in New Zealand running dry over the weekend, they shot out to the supermarket and stocked up.

They told me they’d been thinking about the potential consequences if we get to the point where the 50-days' supply the government keeps talking about starts to get a bit low on it.

What if the farmers start getting rationed? What about food production lines that need fuel? Not to mention fuel for the trucks that deliver food supplies around the country.

For a very brief second, I started thinking that they might have a point.

But it was a very brief second.

They also said they thought we should be rationing fuel now, instead of waiting until there’s a problem on the horizon.

That, if a fuel shortage does happen, it’s going to be all the other things that we rely on fuel for that are going to be affected.

But you’re not going to see me at Pak n Save filling the trolley up - just in case.

Because if everyone did that then we really would have shortages on our hands.

Just like there was no need for the rush on toilet paper during covid, there is no reason for us to be stockpiling food now.

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Aside from trying to make sure we don’t run out of fuel because of what’s going on in the middle east, the other challenge the Government has on its hands is that we’re not the country we were six years.

Six years ago, when COVID first hit, we were much more compliant. Way more than we are now.

Six years ago - by and large - we all went along with all the restrictions and the initial lockdowns without too much resistance.

These days, it’s a different story. Which is why i think the government would be pushing it uphill with some of the fuel conservation ideas being thrown around.

I think it’s brilliant that the Government is thinking about this now and not waiting until the tanks are starting to go dry. Which is about 50 days away from happening, according to Finance Minister Nicola Willis

She says if new orders started being disrupted, then the Government would have to think about prioritising fuel for the likes of emergency services and the transport industry and other measures, such as car-less days, fuel rationing and working from home.

Let’s start with car-less days. The only way I could see them working was if insurance companies came out and said they wouldn’t cover a vehicle if it was driven on the nominated car-less day.

I don’t think more working from home would make much difference, either. Because people would still use their vehicles.

If anything, fuel rationing would be the only practical way of reducing fuel consumption. Because, if you can’t buy it, you can’t use it.

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