Employers and Manufacturers Association claim wrong

16 July 2004

The claim by Employers and Manufacturers Association (Northern) Chief Executive Alasdair Thompson that “the biggest cost increases driving inflation over the past 12 months have come mainly from local councils putting up their rates and fees” is both misleading and wrong says Local Government New Zealand.

Local Government New Zealand Chief Executive Eugene Bowen said today that weighting given by Statistics New Zealand to local body charges when calculating the CPI was only 2.23%. This means that only a small proportion of the annual inflation to June 2004 of 2.4% would have come from rates.

“The media release by Government Statistician Brian Pink announcing the June quarter CPI figures was titled ‘Petrol and Construction Prices Drive CPI Up 0.8 Percent’, which clearly identifies the main factors,” said Mr Bowen. “His statement does not even mention rates”.

ENDS

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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>>