Sunday 11 February 2001

Annette King's bragging about the reduction in hospital waiting lists is a bit like her trying to claim credit for a fine day, National's Health spokesperson Roger Sowry said today.

"There have been no policy changes of substance in the area of elective waiting lists since Labour and the Alliance came into office so it's a bit rich for her to try and claim credit for the good news.

"All of the progress being made in this area is a direct result of policies put in place by the National Government.

"Today's news of a 56 percent drop in waiting lists follows the trend line that started when National implemented the booking system in 1997/1998.

"The risk now is that we will see this trend reversed as the Minister starts to roll out her own programme for our health system," Mr Sowry said.

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>>