Rising jet fuel prices are continuing to cause flight cancellations, but the Government is confident we still have steady supply coming into the country.

Jetstar has now followed Air New Zealand in scaling back both domestic and international flights.

Associate Transport Minister James Meager says there's 43-days worth of jet fuel either onshore, or on its way.

He told Ryan Bridge there's no need for anyone to panic.

Meager says we normally like to have about 50 days on fuel on hand, but there's nothing to indicate the orders we've placed aren't on the way.

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There are calls to power up the energy sector's workforce so it doesn't short-circuit.

A report by two industry groups —Energy Resources Aotearoa and the Electricity Engineers’ Association— has found the current size of the workforce is a constraint on growth.

It recommends a new energy workforce governing body and a more bipartisan approach on energy to ensure job security.

Electricity Engineers Association Chief Executive Nicki Sutherland told Ryan Bridge there's no crisis yet, but there could be in the future.

She says the sector is fundamentally tied to prosperity, so we need to ensure we have the right plans in place now.

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The Government's U-turned on plans to ease minimum size limits for commercial fishing companies.

Greenpeace Aotearoa Oceans Lead Ellie Hooper told Ryan Bridge says she's pleased with the changes but they don't go far enough.

Hooper says the bill however, still incentivises the worst types of fishing - unselective bottom trawling - the impacts of which are being felt increasingly by all.

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On the Early Edition with Ryan Bridge Full Show Podcast Thursday 26th of March 2025, Associate Transport Minister James Meager tells Ryan what the government plans to do to support the aviation industry around the fuel shortage.

A new report’s warning we need a lot more workers in the energy sector and fast, Electricity Engineers' Association CEO Nicki Sutherland explains why.

Commercial fishers won't be allowed to catch and sell popular undersized fish after a Shane Jones walk-back, Elle Hooper from Green Peace shares her thoughts.

Plus, US Correspondent Mitch McCann has the latest on the US deploying 2,000 more troops to the region, at the same time there are reports White House has drawn up 15 point peace plan for the war to end and Savannah Guthrie appearing back on the Today show to talk about her mother's kidnapping.

Get the Early Edition Full Show Podcast every weekday on iHeartRadio, or wherever you get your podcasts.

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Everyone keeps asking why the world feels so hectic at the moment.

If life were a movie a movie they'd call it One Battle After Another.

Winston Peters, Judith Collins and their counterparts in Europe and elsewhere all agree we’re living in the most dangerous era since the world wars.

But why?

Yes there’s Trump - he’s unpredictable and a bit nuts.

But Trump is really just a symptom of a wider problem which is basically the decline of America.

The last death rattle of a superpower who knows its time is almost up.

China’s military spending grew from one sixth to one third of America’s in the past decade.

India is about to overtake Germany as the third largest economy in the world.

The Russians are still hammering Ukraine, four years into a European war.

Now Iran.

But the world has lived through bigger wars before. Its survived bigger battles.

It survived the Spanish flu, its Covid.

What’s really changed that makes this feel more doomsday is basically two things. Globalisation and technology.

It took us thousands of years to invent the wheel, yet in just the past six months we’ve created the most popular open-source technology project humanity has ever seen in OpenClaw; an AI personal assistant that can run your entire life at the clock of a button.

We invent new technologies and the technologies now invent things themselves.

They reshape labour markets and entire economies.

And warfare.

All you need now is a couple of $30k drones and a few speedboats to hold the world to ransom, not nukes and a standing army.

We’ve made global trade and air travel so efficient that we’ve come to rely on it, more heavily than ever before.

We close our own oil refineries and import it instead.

So when someone catches a flu in China, or oil gets choked in the Middle East, we’re buggered.

News travels fast. We know what's happened as soon as it happens.

And so too effects of crisis and chaos.

Maybe the world only feels so dangerous because we’ve made it such a small one?

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It’s believed businesses will hold off on hiking prices for as long as possible as rising fuel prices risk pushing inflation up.

Reserve Bank Governor Anna Breman says fuel prices are likely to lead to higher inflation and weaker growth over the coming months.

She says it's too early to say how much that will push up inflation across the board, or whether the Official Cash Rate will need to be hiked earlier than expected.

BusinessNZ Advocacy Director Catherine Beard told Ryan Bridge there was discussion with suppliers to make any price increases as a result of fuel transparent, so they won’t get baked in.

She says businesses are preparing for the worst, but things at the moment aren’t too bad.

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Disbelief in Hawke's Bay as another major food producer prepares to cut back.

McCain's confirmed it plans close its Hastings vegetable processing plant early next year.

The move follows Heinz Wattie’s plans to shut its Hastings packing site, along with factories in Auckland, Christchurch, and Dunedin.

Central Hawke's Bay Mayor Will Foley told Ryan Bridge locals thought they were better off than regions like Canterbury, and they thought McCain was still going strong.

He says this has come as a complete shock, and farmers will be digesting what this will mean for them over the next year.

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Concerns over the Government's fuel relief package missing benefit-dependent households.

It's unveiled a temporary 50-dollar weekly tax credit for about 143 thousand eligible working families with children - as the Iran war sends fuel costs rocketing.

Another 14 thousand families will get support at a lower rate.

Green Party Social Development Spokesperson Ricardo Menendez March told Ryan Bridge beneficiaries are often having to drive and some have kids.

He says it's people who are already struggling to make ends meet.

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