Dr Lockwood Smith
National Industrial Relations Spokesperson

15 February 2001

Govt abandons legal efforts to stop strike

Today in Parliament Labour Minister Margaret Wilson confirmed the Government was abandoning further legal action to stop the MAF vets' strike that looks set to cause upheaval in the meat industry, National's Industrial Relations spokesperson Dr Lockwood Smith said today.

"This back-down has made Prime Minister Helen Clark look silly. Only yesterday she boldly vowed to take legal action against the vets.

"Helen been caught out this time. She specialises in making popular statements, but this time she couldn't get the facts to fit the spin.

"The Government has abandoned the meat industry and our farmers, leaving the Employers Federation to try and save the day with a last minute appeal to the Court of Appeal.

"Supported by the Meat Industry Association and Federated Farmers the Employers Federation now seeks to clarify important aspects of this Labour-Alliance Government's troublesome new Employment Relations Act," Dr Smith said.

Ends

© 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>>