She acknowledges that the fuel price surge is already creating “massive inflationary pressure” and damaging global growth prospects. There is no trace of denialism: “I certainly haven’t been in a Pollyanna camp saying this is all fine. I think it’s very challenging,” she told me in a phone call after she arrived in Brisbane late Thursday.
It’s been a testing week for the Finance Minister.
She had to stand by mutely while Christopher Luxon excoriated journalists over news stories on his leadership (this after he comprehensively won his call for a caucus confidence vote). She later stared down sexist slurs over her physical appearance and mental health from two senior parliamentary colleagues (they have since apologised).
It’s notable that she cited a recent “run” with other finance ministers in Washington DC, where Chalmers was the most athletic, as evidence of her physical endurance.
Willis and Chalmers have hit it off personally. They share a desire for “big reform” while managing increasingly difficult political constraints.
The joint focus of yesterday’s formal bilateral meeting was to lock in concrete progress on economic integration, agree common positions in defence of the rules‑based trade order, and to present a united front in supporting the Pacific through the energy crisis.
There was a virtual meeting with key members of the Australia New Zealand Leadership Forum to discuss their proposals to deepen the single economic market agenda.
Willis and Chalmers also co-chaired a roundtable on the fuel crisis. She will go on to attend Anzac Day commemorations in Chalmers’ electorate in Queensland.
“New Zealand and Australia are working closely together to manage the impacts of global events on our economies and on household budgets,” Willis said in a later statement.
Willis and Chalmers agreed officials would continue regular engagement on fuel market conditions, supply chain developments, price pressures, and financial system resilience, including ongoing coordination to ensure markets, banks and relevant agencies are well prepared for geopolitical and economic shocks.
“Families and businesses expect governments to be practical and focused during periods of disruption. That means measured responses that are timely, temporary and targeted, rather than policies that add to inflation or create long-term fiscal costs,” Willis said.
But she also took the opportunity to sharpen her pitch of New Zealand as a safe, rules-based, renewables‑rich destination for capital.
Her schedule included meetings with the Australian Retirement Trust, a superannuation fund headquartered in Brisbane with more than A$300 billion ($365b) in retirement savings under management; the Queensland Investment Corporation, which has substantial infrastructure investments; and NextDC, a global industry leader in data centre engineering.
Willis’ pitch is straightforward.
In a world of growing instability, New Zealand offers political and regulatory certainty, abundant renewable energy potential, and a rules-based trade and investment environment.
“We’re a rules-based player, and that has a lot of value to businesses who want certainty when they make an investment … that makes us attractive, so we just need to be leveraging that.”
There is an immediate issue.
The Government is intent on avoiding fuel rationing at all costs. Willis is blunt that any move to restrict fuel access for businesses would be “the most destructive thing for the economy”, risking mass economic harm that would be “very difficult to recover from”.
She has outlined a multi-layered plan:
• Additional reserves: New Zealand has contracted an extra 90 million litres of storage – about nine days’ worth of diesel – a volume she notes exceeds what Australia has secured in its own recent deals;
• Regulatory relief for industry: officials are working on temporary, targeted regulatory changes to allow freight operators and industry to achieve the same output with less fuel. The aim is cost relief and maintaining economic activity while reducing fuel use.
• Active market surveillance: the Government is monitoring orders and shipping schedules closely, ready to move to stronger “voluntary demand restraint” measures if there are signs of disruption.
• Global supply intelligence: beyond the assurances of fuel importers and refineries, Wellington has commissioned independent AI-driven analysis from Starboard Intelligence, which indicates that crude flows into key refineries in South Korea and Singapore remain around their recent average, albeit supplied increasingly from West Africa, Brazil and the US.
She notes that demand issues are more likely to strike developing and poorer countries first, effectively freeing up supply for wealthier markets like New Zealand.
That’s cold comfort for households and firms facing rising costs, but it underscores why New Zealand remains, in her words, “a country that you want to be selling fuel to”, given our ability and record of paying our bills.
Willis appears determined to use this crisis as a pivot point, both to deepen the transtasman partnership and to rewire New Zealand’s economic engine for the decade ahead.
She’s not the only Cabinet minister spruiking New Zealand this weekend.
Trade and Investment Minister Todd McClay flew to India on Thursday in advance of the official signing of the free trade agreement.
With him – assuming he got his visa approval in time – was Labour trade spokesman Damien O’Connor, who was very active in firming the bilateral relationship just before the 2023 general election.
McClay will mark Anzac Day in a dawn service at which he will recognise New Zealanders, Australians and Indians who fought for their countries.
BusinessNZ has assembled a strong group of business leaders who will take part in a joint New Zealand-India business summit with Indian Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal.
Some chief executives, such as BusinessNZ’s Katherine Rich, ANZ’s Antonia Watson and Air New Zealand’s Nikhil Ravishankar, will be on a quick turnaround.
They will fly to Singapore the following weekend for the inaugural Singapore New Zealand Leadership Forum, where they will join the Prime Minister in reinforcing that increasingly important bilateral relationship.
This crisis has reinforced New Zealand’s need for reliable friends, and business has stepped up.
Catch up on the debates that dominated the week by signing up to our Opinion newsletter – a weekly round-up of our best commentary.