Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has put herself an a difficult position on whether to end oil exploration, whether the economy is yet ready to transition away from fossil fuels or not.

OPINION: Jacinda Ardern's decision to take a walk down the steps of Parliament on Monday was well intentioned, but is symbolic of the Government's confusion around managing an economy.

In what may be a first, the prime minister personally went to greet representatives of Greenpeace and receive a petition calling for the end of oil exploration.

Few seriously doubt that oil and gas is a sunset industry. But there still is genuine debate about whether New Zealand has the gas reserves in operational fields to manage the transition away from fossil fuels.

Much of New Zealand's industry relies on gas, as does the electricity sector. Most of our electricity generation is renewable, but it is gas that gives the system security.

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* Reserve Bank leaves official cash rate at 1.75 per cent, as expected

* New Zealand may be about to face the biggest shift in economic gears since 1984

* Editorial: The winds of economic change are blowing

Few would rather see their granny sitting in the cold than burn gas if parts of the transmission network fell over.

HAMISH RUTHERFORD/STUFF Flanked by Energy Minister Megan Woods and Climate Change Minister James Shaw, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern took the unusual step of personally receiving a petition calling for an end of oil exploration in New Zealand.

But Ardern has created problems of precedent (how to decide which other groups deserve such a greeting) as well as expectation.

The symbolism of the Greenpeace rally was the type of theatre many groups try to manufacture at Parliament, but few manage.

Standing in front of posters of Norman Kirk, David Lange and Helen Clark, who had all made historic environmental moves, as well as a poster of herself, Ardern volunteered that she had delayed attending a state lunch to deliver such an important message.

RNZ Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones is claiming success over the storm he whipped up attacking Air New Zealand and calling for the chairman to resign.

"We're working hard on this issue and we know that it's one that we can't afford to spend much time on."

Ardern gave an air of immediacy, but the Government is clearly not in a position to comment.

Hours after Ardern accepted the petition she gave a much more 'business as usual' message to Parliament's Press Gallery, even distancing herself from what may have been seen as a snub to the Indonesian president.

Unlike the other controversies of recent weeks, where Ardern has been justifying the positions of her colleagues, this was a storm entirely of her own making.

The prime minister, who labelled climate change as her generation's nuclear free moment, is now in an almost impossible position, for little political gain.

She has to either call a permanent end to oil exploration in New Zealand, whether the economy is ready or not, or face accusations of hypocrisy.

Pressure from Greenpeace will only mount. Cancelling the 2018 block offer, under which exploration space is offered to oil companies, will not be enough if the door is opened to future exploration.

Instead, we may not know the Government's plans, for weeks or months.

For the industry this creates major uncertainty, the significance of which Labour seems to struggle to appreciate.

Businesses, by and large, are better at coping with bad news than they are at coping with uncertainty. You cannot plan for it or adapt to it.

Cameron Madgwick, the chief executive of lobby group Pepanz, seemed more concerned about the lack of clarity, pointing out that whatever one took from the Greenpeace meeting, Labour's stated policy suggested an ongoing role for exploration.

It was not even the only time this week that a major part of the economy was put on notice that the operating conditions are much less certain now than they were under National.

What began with Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones berating a mid-level Air New Zealand employee at Kerikeri Airport on Friday escalated to the airline's chief executive being told to keep out of politics and suggesting the chairman should be removed.

Jones carries no actual power in respect of Air New Zealand, but he is a highly influential character.

In criticising the airline for cutting back regional services, he is delivering an opinion shared by many people in regional New Zealand.

But that delivery is the problem.

Perhaps Air New Zealand should be pressured to improve its regional connections. Perhaps such pressure could be partly subsidised by cash from the $1 billion a year provincial development fund which Jones manages. If regional connectivity is really as important as many people think, it may not be the worst use of the money.

Instead, though, the Government gives symbolic gestures and name calling.

Ardern ruled that Jones had gone a "step too far" in calling for the sacking of Air New Zealand's chairman, but that is hardly a full rebuke.

Other industries may be getting nervous, at a time when business confidence is already low.

The electricity sector, where the Government has a controlling share in three of the four biggest players, may wonder what influence ministers will wield. How long before the hugely profitable banking sector gets a serve from a Cabinet minister?

The Government has every right to take action against any part of the economy it chooses. But in a series of recent episodes it has delivered nothing.

If Ardern's Government is going to be more interventionist, as it has promised it will, then it should spend a little more time working on its plans and warning the industry, rather than making political statement with no back-up.