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Speaker 1: Question, how many ways can you slice the petrol handout? Answer? Many?

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Speaker 1: Clearly the government has beed commended. I think on restraint,

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Speaker 1: and I hope that message of restraint has sunk into

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Speaker 1: New Zealanders who think we have money forever, money on trees.

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Speaker 1: Debt is never to be paid back in Hipkins, Robinson

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Speaker 1: and adernwith economic geniuses, Fitch has provided the wake up call.

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Speaker 1: The bill on interest alone for our debt is heading

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Speaker 1: towards ten billion dollars a year. We have no room

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Speaker 1: to move. We commend them too. I think on the

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Speaker 1: three hundred and seventy million coming out of the operating budget.

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Speaker 1: In other words, no new borrowing, but it's downhill. I'm

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Speaker 1: afraid from there. Fifty dollars a week for a year

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Speaker 1: or until ninety one is three dollars for four weeks,

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Speaker 1: and then that random mechanism is the weakness of not

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Speaker 1: only government but relying on government. What is targeted about

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Speaker 1: fifty dollars for certain people based on fuel price. How

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Speaker 1: many of those people getting fifty dollars drive an EV

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Speaker 1: and their fuel bill is completely unaffected. How many don't

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Speaker 1: use fuel anyway, no matter what the cost. What about

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Speaker 1: the city dwellers who walk a lot. I drive, for example,

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Speaker 1: twelve k's a day week. If I do, say ten

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Speaker 1: liters per hundred, that's success liters. Let's call it ten

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Speaker 1: thirty five forty five dollars a week for fuel. I'm

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Speaker 1: winning the government. Suddenly, Government's suddenly paying my fuel bill.

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Speaker 1: That's nuts. The people affected by fuel are the people

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Speaker 1: who travel the distance. It's got nothing to do with income.

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Speaker 1: It's miles. But a government can't hand out money in

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Speaker 1: that way. So how targeted is this? Actually? Yes, low

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Speaker 1: incomes are affected in greater percentage terms when prices rise,

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Speaker 1: but only if the price is a major for you.

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Speaker 1: Petro might be more expensive, but it's only a burden

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Speaker 1: if you actually use a lot of it. Money is

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Speaker 1: going to people who we have no idea whether they

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Speaker 1: actually need it, because the mechanism that drives the support

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Speaker 1: is all wrong. But what are they to do? The

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Speaker 1: truth is this is the best of a series of

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Speaker 1: bad options. Cap the fuel tax. A lot of people say, sure,

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Speaker 1: millionaires get ferraris full of gas cheaper. It is the

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Speaker 1: weakness of having a populace who've come to rely on

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Speaker 1: a government too heavily. Itches a scratch for political ends,

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Speaker 1: not economic solutions. This looks more like a dart more

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Speaker 1: gesture than an actual economic solution. For more from The

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Speaker 1: Mic Asking Breakfast, listen live to News Talks at B

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