Oil dependence driving mortgage costs

Green Media Release 17th January 2008

Today's announcement that rising petrol prices have driven inflation above three percent must trigger the Government to rethink its love affair with motorways, says Green Party Co-leader Dr. Russel Norman.

"New Zealand's current oil-dependent economy is extremely vulnerable to world oil prices, and until the Government acts to insulate us from the ever-increasing price of oil, kiwi families will pay for this short-sightedness not only at the petrol pump, but also through their mortgages and rents," says Dr Norman, the Green Party's spokesperson on economics.

"With inflation pushing over the three percent ceiling that Reserve Bank Governor Alan Bollard is charged with maintaining, there is little hope that interest rates will come down, leaving many families struggling to make mortgage and rent payments.

"This means that people with home mortgages will continue to pay a fortune in interest payments to overseas owned banks just to have a roof over their heads. This will also flow into higher rents making it harder for families to pay the bills.

"What we need is for the Government to drastically alter the balance between investments in motorways, and investments in less oil dependant modes of transport. We need more buses and trains, so that people can get where they need to, on time, without taking the car. We need liveable cities, where cycling and walking is safe enough so that parents encourage their kids to get active on the way to school. If we increased investment in rail, we could get freight off our roads, further decreasing our oil dependence.

"The right choices are clear, and I am hopeful that this latest economic indicator will wake the Government up so that they act now to release our economy from the stranglehold of imported oil."

ENDS

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