MEDIA ADVISORY

8 February 2001

CHANGEOVER OF GOVERNORS-GENERAL

The Governor-General, Sir Michael Hardie Boys, will complete his term of office on 21 March 2001. The Governor-General Designate, Dame Silvia Cartwright, will be sworn into office on 4 April 2001.

A state luncheon to farewell Sir Michael will be held on 21 March 2001.

It is customary for the Governor-General Designate to travel to London for an audience with the Queen, prior to taking up office. Dame Silvia leaves New Zealand for this trip on 7 March, returning on 29 March. The Governor-General Designate will meet the Queen on 20 March. In addition to the United Kingdom, Dame Silvia will also make brief visits to Norway, Finland and Japan to view first-hand the practice of proportional representation in those countries.

The Chief Justice, Dame Sian Elias, will act as Administrator of the Government during the interregnum.

ENDS

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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>>