4.5% annual inflation. Meanwhile unemployment is brushing 7%, and the average wage rise in the last year was 1.7%, and only 1.4% if (like the majority of workers) you weren't in a union. No wonder people are feeling squeezed.
But the government is fine. They have $250,000 a year salaries, $185 a bottle taxpayer funded pinot noir, new BMWs with heated seats. They only have to worry about redundancy every three years (or never, if they have a good list spot), not next month or next week. They're in a completely different world from the rest of us. None of this affects them. No wonder then that they talk airily of leaving the market to sort itself out - because they're completely insulated from the very real suffering their inaction is inflicting on ordinary kiwis.
The first obligation of government is to protect its people. National has failed to do that. Instead, they have abandoned us to the recession, while taking care of their rich mates with tax cuts and bailouts. We deserve better.