Govt quietly hands over $5.5 million in fuel subsidy

Tuesday, 21 July 2026

The Ministry of Transport has quietly injected public transport authorities with funding to tackle fuel price hikes in the wake of ongoing US/Israel/Iran conflict, The Press can reveal.

Some $5.5 million was distributed across transport authorities, mainly regional councils, on June 29. However, councils were asked to keep the funding secret for at least a week.

In a letter to Environment Canterbury, supplied to The Press, a Ministry of Transport official said the Minister of Transport may want to announce the funding roll-out himself, but it could go public after July 7.

No announcements were made. However, ECan chairperson Deon Swiggs mentioned Canterbury’s share of more than $760,000 in his monthly report to colleagues, published ahead of the Wednesday full council meeting.

In a statement, Swiggs said the funding was the result of successful lobbying. Alongside Wellington and Auckland councils, ECan wrote to the Ministers of Transport and Finance earlier in the year about the impact fuel hikes could have on delivering public transport.

He said the Canterbury regional council was hit especially hard by fuel price hikes, given it served the second largest city in New Zealand. The fleet used 80,000 litres of diesel each week.

“Diesel is still around 30% more expensive than it was before the Middle East conflict, so we are still feeling this impact and will keep working with Government,” he said.

A spokesperson for the new Ministry for Cities, Environment, Regions and Transport said all public transport authorities got a funding top up for fuel, except for the one which did not apply for support when invited.

More funding support in the future was possible, depending on future fuel prices and subject to advice from the Ministry, the spokesperson said.