Is NZ a rip-off?

8:32 AM Tuesday Jul 20, 2010

Photo / Greg Bowker

Former All Black Justin Marshall agrees with rugby correspondent Peter Bills that New Zealand is an expensive country - and not just for visitors.

Bills - sounding a caution ahead of next year's Rugby World Cup - said the prices of everyday articles had "horrified" him and Kiwis were "victims of massive overcharging".

He said New Zealand was becoming "one giant rip-off".

Is NZ a rip-off? Here is the latest selection of Your Views:

jax1972 (Auckland Central) | 09:09AM Tuesday, 20 Jul 2010

Definitely. I came back to NZ in December after 10.5 years in the UK. I could save GBP1000 a month in the UK, here I can't save anything. The pound goes so much further, while salaries here are low and the cost of living keeps increasing. My rent in Auckland (Ponsonby) is far more than I ever paid in London and I lived in some nice areas over there.

If employers got in line with salaries paid abroad, people here wouldn't feel so ripped off.

Wolf (New Zealand) | 10:11AM Tuesday, 20 Jul 2010

NZ is most deffinately a rip-off. When I arrived here 3 years ago, we paid as follows, compared to today.

Airport parking $6 - now $12 - 33% increase per annum
Coffee at BP Wild Bean $3.50 - now $4.40 - 8.57% increase per annum
Petrol - $1.50 - now $ 1.85 - 7.8% increase per annum.

Currency, coming from South Africa. R5.00/$1.00 - Now R 5.40/$1.00. Only 0.09% change per annum.

Since we came here 3 years ago, our power bill increased by average 5-7% per annum. The same with our insurance. Yet, in the same period, my income only increased by 4%.

New Zealand has become an expensive country to live in - no doubt about it.
At the moment word is as scarce as hen teeth as well, so everybody is just hanging onto what they have, not knowing what will happen tomorrow.

Anne Keogh (New South Wales) | 10:11AM Tuesday, 20 Jul 2010

Yes, definitely. We have just come back to New Zealand after living 3 years in Sydney and the cost of food is astronomical compared to Australia (cheese in particular - yet we are one of the world's biggest dairy producers ? - doesn't make sense)