Tuesday, 02 September 2025 15:07

Wasted energy

Written by Milking It

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OPINION: Finance Minister Nicola Willis could have saved her staff and MBIE time and effort over ‘buttergate’ recently by not playing politics with butter prices in the first place.

Despite already knowing, from her time as a Fonterra executive, that international commodity prices drive the domestic price of dairy products, Willis had her staff urgently press officials for international dairy price comparisons in the hours before her meeting with Fonterra’s chief executive.

Emails obtained by RNZ under the Official Information Act show a last-minute scramble for hard data prior to the performative meeting she arranged to “look into” butter prices.

On the day before Willis was due to sit down with Miles Hurrell, the minister’s private secretary John Creech asked the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) for “some facts and figures... so that the Minister has solid info”.

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