Households no better off under Labour

Dr Cullen has today confirmed what every household already knows: They are no better off after half a decade of Labour, said ACT Leader Rodney Hide.

Mr Hide asked Dr Cullen in the House today: By how much has the average household income after tax increased in the four years since the 1999/2000 financial year, and what does this after-tax increase equate to when adjusted for inflation?

Dr Cullen answered "10.1 percent the same as the increase in CPI."

"Dr Cullen's answer could not point to any gains. Rather he has squeezed households to the point where they are actually going backwards.

"His own reworked figures from Treasury show that the average household is no better off in real terms than they were four years ago and that in fact the same average household is having to contribute an extra $3,200 in real terms to the Government.

"Dr Cullen today admitted that `Treasury figures based on a variety of different sources suggest relatively low growth in real after-tax household income.'"

Mr Hide earlier asked the Parliamentary Library to analyse the Treasury's figures. The results are available on request

© Scoop Media

Gordon Campbell: On the Sony cyber attack

Given the layers of meta-irony involved, the saga of the Sony cyber attack seemed at the outset more like a snarky European art film than a popcorn entry at the multiplex.

Yet now with (a) President Barack Obama weighing in on the side of artistic freedom and calling for the US to make a ‘proportionate response’quickly followed by (b) North Korea’s entire Internet service going down, and with both these events being followed by (c) Sony deciding to backtrack and release The Interview film that had made it a target for the dastardly North Koreans in the first place, then ay caramba…the whole world will now be watching how this affair pans out. More>>