Cost of living increase has been caused by Labour introducing GST at 10% then National extending the 12.5% to 15% despite former Prime Minister John Key saying there would be no new taxes. Therefore any cost is amplified by the 15% GST unless you are a registered GST business who can claim it back. E.g. Exporters.
Bringing immigrants to New Zealand has increased the demand to housing which has resulted in the increase in rents and increased the amount of money people have to borrow to pay for a house.

Now there is a labour shortage in NZ as some people are leaving to take up jobs that pay higher rates with more affordable housing overseas. We have a social catastrophe with respect to the harm that alcohol and drugs have affected our society. We have a crisis in the number of people who are in and/or waiting for emergency accommodation. Young people below the age of 18 who appear to be fairly knowledgeable on their rights argue that those over 18 are not legally allowed to acquire cannabis without going through the costly procedure to acquire cannabis for health reasons through medical prescriptions. We need laws in New Zealand that mean something, hence the Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party wanting an age restriction of R18 placed on legalised cannabis for recreational purposes.

The New Zealand government and the opposition appear to be leaving New Zealand very vulnerable given the New Zealand government and opposition parties considered that “In August 2020, Refining NZ announced that it was considering importing refined fuels, and closing the Marsden Point refining operation”. Have the New Zealand government’s actions of sanctioning Russia contributed to the world-wide fuel price increases, shortages, and fertiliser price increases effecting our ever-increasing cost of living? The government needs to stop digging a hole internationally and start dealing with things locally. This is why it is important to vote for local representation.

We now know the cost of bitumen has increased significantly. Now we have to question whether New Zealand will have sufficient supply given that approximately 15% of NZ’s oil came from Russia which is now going to be doubly-affected by the G7’s actions on restricting the price for Russian fuel which is mentioned in the story below. With boats being anchored while they wait for decisions to be made on insurance clarifications, this may constrict supply considerably.

Given that New Zealand is a nuclear free country why did we have to get involved in a matter than concerns Russia and Ukraine. We are now forced with choosing between two nuclear powers, i.e., Russia and America. Especially when the other nuclear power – China is one of our biggest trading partners. Did we consider that Russia and China are good partners? Is America now taking us very close to nuclear war?

Voting in the Hamilton West by-election with hyper-inflation on the horizon as our New Zealand dollars value has sunk compared to other currencies, our housing crisis with all the flow on issues that result from that with the possibility of a nuclear war wiping us all out. This is a very important time to vote as the current lot in parliament appear oblivious to this very serious situation with respect to beginning to address these issues immediately.

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