Alliance leader and Deputy Prime Minister Jim Anderton is pleased with the Green Party's decision to support an appropriation to establish the proposed kiwi bank.

He is confident that the Government can resolve all outstanding issues quickly.

"With Parliamentary support for the concept of the bank now assured, I am confident that all remaining questions can be answered.

"New Zealand Post has developed a very strong business case for a financially successful bank that offers lower fees and better service and retains profits in New Zealand.

"This proposal has been in development since mid-1998 and it is now near to being realised.

"The kiwi bank will be good for customers and good for New Zealand," Jim Anderton 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>>