The Labour party has launched an election attack on National, saying Christopher Luxon has left the typical Kiwi family thousands of dollars worse off.
Labour campaign chair Kieran McAnulty says Luxon promised to fix the cost of living, but three years on "a typical family with two kids is paying $6302 more a year just to get by."
"That's more than $120 a week being swallowed up by higher prices for food, petrol, power, rates, healthcare and getting the kids to school."
It comes after National's attack on Labour's fiscal plan, saying Labour's "hidden bill" of unfunded promises had reached $18.8 billion and would cost households more than $2000 each year.
National claims gap between Labour's spending promises and revenue intentions has grown
Labour has released a document in the style and colour of National's campaign materials, titled "the cost of Luxon," with a large photo of the Prime Minister on the front cover.
The document states:
"The weekly shop. The power bill. Filling up the car. Seeing the doctor. Getting the kids to school. Rates, fees and charges. It's all going up.
"People are working hard, but too many are finding there's less left at the end of the week.
"After three years of National, are you better off? If they win again, it means three more years of higher costs. Three more years of the same.
"Don't risk it. Better starts now."
The 8-page document said a typical family with two children could now be paying "almost $6,000 extra a year compared with 2023."
It broke down those costs into different categories, and how much extra people were paying each year:
- Power - $404
- GP visits - $50
- Petrol - $1,490
- Rates - $1,001
- Food $- 1,226
- Kids' public transport - $1,558
- Other fees and levies - $128
Total - $5,857
It also highlighted that National had introduced or increased "more than 30 fees and levies" since 2023:
- Prescription charges
- Vehicle rego
- ACC motor vehicle levies
- Driver licence test resits
- Electricity lines charges
- Waste levies
- Passport fees
- Aviation safety and security levies
- DOC hut and Great Walk fees
- Court and tribunal fees
In the style and colour of Labour's campaign materials, it then outlined what Labour was proposing, and how it reached the dollar figures.
For example, it referenced figures from the Ministry of Innovation Business and Employment showing the average household power bill was $404 higher in 2026 than in 2023.
For GP visits, Labour calculated an increase of 21 percent, using an average visit cost of about $60 - around $10 more than in 2023. Five visits a year adds $50, and the five visit assumption was based on an average of 2.4 visits per adult in the household.
For petrol costs, Labour said it was about $37.25 more than in 2023. Forty fill-ups a year adds about $1,490. National would say the war in Iran has contributed significantly to these higher costs.
McAnulty said National was now talking about more "reprioritisation". He said Kiwis deserved to know what that meant for the services they rely on.
"The only cuts they've owned up to are in welfare and foreign aid, and even their coalition partners can't agree on those."
He said Labour's plan included three free GP visits a year, scrapping prescription charges, making public transport cheaper and freezing fuel tax for three years.
"Families are already paying an extra $6,000 a year under National," he said.
"Kiwis are being stung and they've had a gutsful - we can't afford another three years of National."
