Prime Minister Helen Clark said today she had accepted the requests of Marian Hobbs and Phillida Bunkle to stand down from their ministerial positions, following close discussion with the Deputy Prime Minister Jim Anderton.

"Both ministers feel that the sustained pressure coming on them from the continuing inquiries into their enrolment status and their eligibility for parliamentary allowances makes it impossible for them to do their jobs effectively," Helen Clark said.

"They have asked that they stand down from the Ministry while the inquiries of the Registrar of Electors and the Auditor General are completed.

"I suggest that all MPs and their parties reflect on the extent to which MPs' often complicated circumstances open them up for similar scrutiny.

"I have accepted the two resignations.

Helen Clark said she was reassigning the duties of the two ministers as follows:

Biosecurity Jim Sutton
Broadcasting Steve Maharey
Consumer Affairs Jim Anderton
Customs Jim Anderton
Environment Pete Hodgson
National Archives Judith Tizard
National Library Judith Tizard

© 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>>