So far their response has been tax cuts and getting rid of regulations. Two things they love doing. In Australia they're giving subsidies to the oil industry.
None of those will do anything to slow our consumption of oil or help people change their lifestyles to match the circumstances. By clinging desperately to business as usual they will make the eventual change more wrenching than it could have been.
Instead, what if:
Short term:
Free public transport.
Free bikes for everyone.
Begin emergency repairs on any old busses that can be pressed into service.
Implement a priority system for who gets fuel:
Tier 1: healthcare, emergency services
Tier 2: food production & distribution
Tier 3: essential infrastructure (power, water, telecoms)
Everything else: on yer bike, son (or heavily rationed)
Ration fertilizer. A lot of it is wasted, currently.
Daily govt briefings - what’s happening, what is being prioritised, what people should do. Maintain clear communication and transparency.
Medium term (but start NOW):
Electrify all busses.
Repair neglected railways.
Move freight by rail and ship as much as possible.
Build cycling infrastructure. Secure places to park many many bikes next to train stations - big sheds.
Remove regulatory barriers for local food production, farmers markets. Encourage urban gardening, local trade networks.
Plant corn everywhere for ethanol.
Strategic reserves of critical medicines, etc.
Diversify food production - for local needs, not for export market needs.
Life is carrying on as normal here too, for now. But in future NZ will be worse off than many countries as we import nearly everything except food, have really minimal public transport and live high-carbon lifestyles.
It's going to be a whole lot harder to give everyone free bikes when there's no diesel to put in the trucks to deliver the bikes. Do it now and it'll be easy. Also right now you can order a bunch of bicycles from China and they might actually arrive in a timely manner whereas doing it later when every other country is doing the same will not go well.
("Free bikes" is a somewhat facetious example. There are a whole raft of ways to support low-carbon transport - now is the time to do them all and we should spend the remaining fuel we have making that change happen rather than wasting it on our current way of life).
It's like covid - if you wait until everyone around you is coughing before putting on your mask, it's too late.