Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Finance Minister Nicola Willis said at Monday's post-Cabinet press conference that the Government is reconsidering whether to keep its fuel-crisis support for working families going, with official price data close to the point that would trigger Cabinet advice.

The scheme works through a $50-per-week increase to the in-work tax credit, starting 1 April 2026. The in-work tax credit is a payment for families where at least one adult is in paid work. The boost was designed to end after twelve months, or earlier if the price of 91 petrol stayed below $3 per litre for four consecutive weeks. Willis said she had received three weeks of official fuel-price data and would get the fourth week's data on Wednesday, at which point officials would advise Cabinet on whether the scheme should continue.

On Monday morning, fuel-price monitoring website Gaspy reported the average petrol price had returned to exactly $3 per litre, after dipping below $3 in late June. Willis said officials expect fuel prices to spike above $3 again in coming weeks, driven by significant increases in international fuel prices. She described the recent lower prices as a possible "welcome blip" rather than a sustained trend.

Luxon said all coalition parties were aware of the "potential yo-yo effect" on prices and he expected them to be pragmatic about the advice before making a decision. He did not commit to widening fuel-related support to any other groups beyond those already receiving help.

Since April, about 143,000 families have been able to receive support through the fuel-crisis in-work tax credit scheme. A further 14,000 families became newly eligible for the $50-per-week payment when the scheme took effect. The Government also announced targeted fuel relief for small, rural and isolated schools, including a temporary increase to mileage rates for relief teachers and the replacement of diesel boilers at up to 70 schools.

Budget 2026 allocated $150 million in funding for fuel-crisis support to those most affected by rising fuel costs.

Also at Monday's briefing, Willis and Luxon announced that more than 97,500 families had received FamilyBoost payments, with 6,566 families receiving the maximum payment of $120 per week.

The fuel support scheme was built with an automatic shut-off tied to a price threshold, similar to a thermostat that switches off when the room hits a set temperature. That means the political question facing Cabinet is whether to accept the mechanical trigger or override it on the basis that the price dip may not hold. Willis's framing of the lower prices as a "welcome blip" signals the Government is preparing the ground for a decision to extend the scheme if the fourth week of data comes in below $3, on the basis that sustained relief has not been established.

The coalition dynamics Luxon referenced matter here. The "potential yo-yo effect" he described means any Cabinet decision carries political risk either way: continuing the scheme when the trigger has been met invites questions about fiscal discipline, while letting it lapse if prices rebound shortly after exposes the Government to charges of pulling support too early. Luxon's expectation that coalition partners will be "pragmatic" suggests the Government is treating this as a technical judgement call rather than a contested coalition negotiation, but the outcome will depend on what Wednesday's data shows and what officials recommend.

The price-trigger mechanism is unusual in New Zealand social policy, where fiscal support programmes more typically have fixed review dates or sunset clauses rather than conditions tied to a market price. The four-consecutive-week threshold was designed to guard against exactly the scenario now unfolding, where prices dip and recover within a short window. Whether the Government treats the trigger as binding or advisory will set a precedent for how future conditional support schemes are managed.

The wider package of fuel-crisis measures, including the schools-focused relief announced in April and the $150 million allocated in Budget 2026, gives the Government additional tools beyond the in-work tax credit mechanism. The FamilyBoost figures announced Monday point to a Government keen to showcase multiple streams of family-focused fiscal support at a time when the fuel scheme's future is under active review.