A row over rising costs has started, with Labour saying families are going to be hit hard by the budget and the emissions trading scheme.
[New Zealand] Prime Minister John Key says that when the ETS comes in on July 1 petrol and power increases will only cost families about $3 a week.
“Is that an appropriate price for a household to pay for the environment…to me that feels about right,” he said yesterday.
But Labour MP Charles Chauvel says power increases will add 5% to household power bills apart from electricity company hikes.
“This comes at a time of nil wage growth, continuing upward pressure on those on fixed incomes and forecast inflation of nearly 6%,” he said yesterday…
Key countered Labour’s ETS argument by saying if the previous government’s scheme had been put in place it would have been twice as expensive for families.