Iran war: Who's who in the NZ fuel crisis response
Thursday, 9 April 2026
ANALYSIS: The Iran war and the fuel crisis it created has been the largest crisis the coalition Government has faced yet.
While it has made few large announcements in response ‒ a boost to Working For Families, work to secure more fuel and more storage ‒ it has looked to project a state of almost constant attention to the matter, especially since the Ministerial Oversight Group led by Finance Minister Nicola Willis first met on March 12.
Willis has been the face of the Government response, but behind her is a wide group of officials from across Government ‒ an “incident management team” in Willis’ words.
These officials contribute to a 7.30am daily “sit rep” meeting for the ministerial group.
Read more:
Diesel nears $4 a litre in NZ as questions over ceasefire mount
Principals brace for truancy rise as fuel crisis hits parents’ pockets
With these individuals across Cabinet and the public service holding huge power, The Post looked to clarify exactly who they all were.
This group is principally made up of six chief executives of six different agencies:
The Ministry of Business, Innovation, and Employment (MBIE)
The Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet (DPMC)
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT)
Treasury
The Ministry of Primary Industries (MPI)
The Ministry of Transport (MoT)
But these CEs are supported by many other figures too. Below is a list of all the senior figures involved in the fuel crisis.
The Ministerial Oversight Group
Before we get to the public servants, we should be clear about the membership of the Ministerial Oversight Group will be the ones to decide if we ever move to a new “phase” of the fuel response plan.
Willis chairs the meetings, and her office told The Post there are no plans to change that, despite the Energy portfolio going from the relatively junior Simon Watts to Simeon Brown in last week’s reshuffle. Brown does attend the meetings however.
Also in the group, according to Willis’ office, is Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, Associate Energy Minister Shane Jones, Deputy Prime Minister David Seymour and Transport Minister Chris Bishop.
Seymour indicated Workplace Relations Minister Brooke van Velden was attending for ACT early on in the crisis, but this appears to have changed, and Willis also indicated that Trade Minister Todd McClay was a member, but her office did not mention him on Wednesday.
MBIE - the lead agency
Early in the response, Willis indicated that MBIE had set up an incident management team to support the oversight group. MBIE look after energy policy and have been publishing the fuel stocks updates throughout the crisis.
MBIE continue to be the lead agency and have set up a dedicated team responsible for ‒ in a spokesperson’s words ‒ “operations, policy, commercial fuel supply, data and communications”.
MBIE chief executive Nic Blakeley is leading the response while Iain Cossar is the policy lead. ACC’s Andy Milne is also on hand as the operations lead.
Blakeley was promoted to head up MBIE just a few months ago but has a long career in the public service including roles at MBIE, a decade at the Ministry of Social Development (MSD), and time at Treasury.
Cossar is also a career public servant and has worked as the head of New Zealand’s space agency, and at the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development.
Milne was a police officer in the UK for 17 years before moving to New Zealand in 2014, where he has worked at corrections, MBIE and now ACC. MBIE’s chief people officer Jennifer Nathan described this as “considerable operational and situation management leadership experience”.
This role involves a lot of communications so MBIE have recently brought in Jane Archibald from Police, where she has been a comms powerhouse for decades.
DPMC and the ‘lead official’
The Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet (DPMC) is playing a system-wide coordination role, and it is this agency that features someone Willis referred to as the “lead official” in a press conference.
The non-political office is a relatively small agency that brings in seriously experienced figures from across the public sector, and can act as a kind of extra sounding board or voice so the prime minister gets a wide range of views from officials, not just the ones from the lead agency on any one issue.
The Post understands DPMC head Ben King and deputy chief executive for the Policy and Delivery Unit Janine Smith are heavily involved with the fuel crisis response.
King comes to DPMC after a distinguished public service career spanning close to three decades, including stints at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT), where he was the ambassador to Thailand, Cambodia, and Laos, the head of the Americas and Asia Group, and the deputy chief executive for policy. King has also worked at DPMC in the past.
Smith comes to DPMC after a similarly distinguished career including a stint as deputy secretary at the Ministry for the Environment as it managed resource management act reform.
It was Smith who Willis was referring on Wednesday as the “lead official” on the phone to Australia “almost daily”.
“Our lead official on the fuel response is having almost daily phone calls with her counterpart in Australia, meaning that our two systems are exchanging information and perspectives regularly.”
The political staffers
Ministers have some staff who are simply representing the public service within their office and some that are properly political ‒ typified by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).
These political staff will also be involved in the response and in particular in the way it is framed in speeches and press conferences.
PMO policy director Joe Ascroft has a background in energy and is understood to be involved in the response. Ascroft is a young policy brain whose PHD focused on energy markets, and has also worked for the Taxpayers’ Union.
Willis’ senior press secretary Nick Venter has been involved in the myriad press conferences the minister has hosted on this matter. Venter came to Willis from Treasury but was also chief press secretary for Prime Minister Bill English and a long time ago the political editor of this masthead. Willis’ entire political team are involved in the response to some degree.
Other press secretaries are also playing a big part ‒ including Jasmine Higginson in the Prime Minister’s office and Lucy Bennett in Jones’ office.
MFAT - the diplomats
MFAT has a natural role in a crisis that is deeply international ‒ where ties with other nations may be essential for gaining extra fuel supplies.
A spokesperson for MFAT said that a “broad range” of MFAT staff were involved all around the world.
“These MFAT staff are focused on the conflict's geostrategic drivers; its trade and economic impacts, including fuel supplies; on supporting New Zealanders in the region; and on engaging with international partners to support de-escalation and mitigate the conflicts negative economic impacts,” the spokesperson said.
The spokesperson said MFAT head Bede Corry and deputy chief executive (policy) Taha Macpherson were leading the team and were involved in briefing ministers.
Corry got the top role at MFAT after a long diplomatic career including roles as the ambassador to the United States and the High Commissioner to the UK. He first started working at MFAT in 1989.
Macpherson also has a long career at MFAT including stints as ambassador to Turkey and leader of the Europe division. He has also worked as chief of staff to then Auckland mayor Phil Goff.
Treasury, Transport and Primary Industries
Treasury told The Post that Treasury Secretary Iain Rennie was “heavily engaged” in the response but the work was being led by deputy secretary Chris Bunny.
MoT said that acting chief executive Brad Ward and deputy chief executive for policy Ruth Fairhall were leading the transport portion of the response, including engagement with the wider transport sector.
MPI said director general Ray Smith was leading the response, alongside deputy director policy and trade Julie Collins and a special director for Middle East Conflict, Steve Ham.
Other public servants
A spokesperson for DPMC made clear that agencies from across Government were involved ‒ including those above, but also:
The Public Service Commission (PSC)
The Ministry of Education (MoE)
The Ministry of Health (MoH)
The Ministry of Social Development (MSD)
The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA)
In other words, basically every major ministry in the country. The only ministries with over 1000 staff not already listed above are Justice and Children.
NEMA indicated its entire senior leadership team were involved.