A woman stopped Labour list MP Tracey McLellan at a street corner meeting this week hoping for inside information on New Zealand’s fuel supply. McLellan had to tell her she knew as much as anyone else.

That confusion, McLellan said, is exactly the problem, and it is why motorists are still panic buying at the pumps.

“It should be the government’s number one priority to tell us exactly what’s going on. I don’t know whether it’s because they don’t want to or because they’re trying to prevent panic buying, but it’s causing a lot of uncertainty out there,” she told Chris Lynch.

Even the weekly fuel stock updates, McLellan said, were hard to follow.

“The numbers jump around quite a bit and I don’t necessarily understand what it means by x amount of days still on the water. I’ve sort of given up now, I’m just hoping for the best.”

She said there had been weeks where stock had fallen below the official framework’s thresholds without triggering any change in alert level.

“It just feels a bit mucky. I think people are screaming out for some decent leadership and some decent information. We don’t know what’s going to happen if there actually is a shortage.”

Banks Peninsula MP Vanessa Weenink, disagreed with the idea that the public was being kept in the dark.

“We get the information and we share it when we have it. Having a weekly update is a realistic amount of time. We do have sufficient stock in the country for quite a few weeks and we know that there’s fuel on the way. Keeping it levelheaded and calm is very important.”

Weenink said distribution was the bigger problem, particularly in rural areas, and that the national supply picture remained steady. She pointed to some independent service stations reporting that demand had begun to plateau, and said sensible behaviour changes were already visible on the ground.

“A lot of people are already doing sensible things like car pooling and cutting back on trips that may not have been as necessary. I think those things are all really sensible.”

Prices had even dipped slightly in recent days, she said.

Asked what the government should actually be doing to stop the panic buying, McLellan said information was the only real antidote.

“Panic buying will happen if there’s a lack of information.”

Weenink took aim at Labour’s record on crisis communications, arguing the Opposition would struggle to do better.

“I think you’ve got a great response that’s happening from Nicola Willis, including even Shane Jones. I think Labour might be finding it quite tricky now because their response would likely be terrify everyone, lock everyone down and have daily truths.”

Chlorine to stay in Christchurch water

Both MPs were also asked about confirmation this week that chlorination will remain in Christchurch’s water supply, an outcome many residents had feared was inevitable despite years of public reassurance from city leaders.

McLellan said the decision would be a blow to passionate advocates who had campaigned for years to have chlorine removed.

“Water is a big issue everywhere in New Zealand and that was the impetus for us looking at those affordable water reforms. We’ve got to give councils the scale and those financial tools to actually tackle the big problem and it doesn’t feel like we’re there yet.”

She said the government’s current water policy had not gone far enough.

Weenink said she believed there had been a genuine attempt to review the standards and consider an exemption for Canterbury, but that the final call had to come down to safety.

“Our standards are as high as they can be for a good reason. We had an episode in Havelock North where people died. When it comes to water standards, we should actually listen to the people who understand this well, the scientists and public health experts. They are the ones who should be trusted here.”

Weenink said she intended to install a water filtration system at home to deal with the taste.

Airbnb rules need tightening

The pair were also asked about revelations the Christchurch City Council cannot say how many short term rentals are operating in the city and relies largely on self reporting.

McLellan said every short term rental removed a property from the long term rental pool and changed the character of the central city.

“Every time an Airbnb is on or some sort of short term rental, it takes that property out of the long term rental market, which just kind of skews the system. I think it’s worth persevering to try to set up a system that can monitor and not be completely reliant on self monitoring.”

Weenink agreed and said residents needed to make their voices heard.

“It’s up to us to put the pressure on. We need to make those views very clear so the council does invest in making sure there’s a good system that’s robust. I think it’s worthwhile in the long term.”

End of an era for the Crusaders horses

On the Crusaders decision not to bring back match day horses at the new One NZ Stadium, McLellan said it felt like the end of an era.

“It was very rousing and very dramatic. The first thing I thought of was it’s a roofed stadium, which is what we wanted, and that turf must be incredibly expensive. It would be good to think there was some other way to try to keep the tradition alive.”

Weenink said the club should treat it as a chance to do something new.

“Maybe this is a great opportunity with a new stadium to try something new. Maybe we could have ponies. Well, not necessarily animals at all. What about some sort of light show or drones or something cool like that.”

She also pointed out the practical issues of running horses on artificial turf.

“Horses do what they will do.”

Chris Lynch said the size of the new stadium also meant freelance photographers would no longer be able to run along the sidelines and would instead be stationed at the corners, something he said the photographers were unhappy about.