Auditor-General’s Inquiry Welcome - ACT

Thursday 25th Jan 2001 Ken Shirley Media Release -- Governance & Constitution

ACT New Zealand’s Acting Leader Ken Shirley welcomed the Auditor-General’s announcement that his office would be looking into the payment of accommodation allowances to Wellington MPs.

“It is clear that Parliamentary Services’ examination was inadequate given that they are the body responsible for making the payments.

“No one has satisfactorily explained how Phillida Bunkle and Marian Hobbs managed to sign an electoral enrolment form giving their principal place of residence as Wellington and yet regularly filed claims that their principal place of residence was outside Wellington.

“Clearly their actions raise questions of integrity that have not been satisfactorily addressed by the review undertaken by the Parliamentary Services Commission.

“The Auditor General’s report should be welcomed by Members of the House of Representatives as any suspicion of wrongdoing casts a shadow over all MPs,” Ken Shirley said.

ENDS

For more information visit ACT online at http://www.act.org.nz or contact the ACT Parliamentary Office at act@parliament.govt.nz.

© Scoop Media

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>>