Taskforce Green workers and a further $15,000 of Government assistance are to be offered to Marlborough farmers who were affected by severe fires late last month, Agriculture and Rural Affairs Minister Jim Sutton and Social Services and Employment Minister Steve Maharey said today.

This brings the total of Government aid to affected Marlborough farmers to $30,000. That breaks down to $12,100 for co-ordination of the relief effort, $11,250 for technical advice, $5000 for counselling as advised by the Marlborough District Council, and $1650 for Task Force Green administration. Wages paid to Taskforce Green workers will also add to this total.

The Ministers said grants funding came from an emergency fund in the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry's budget and will be administered by the Marlborough District Council.

The council has also given money to help the affected farmers, and assistance is also flowing in from farmers in other parts of the country.

Mr Sutton said that showed the solidarity, resilience, and generosity of the rural community in New Zealand.

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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>>