27 February 2001

Press Statement

ELECTORAL INTEGRITY BILL INCORPORATES NEW ZEALAND FIRST CONCERNS

CALLS FOR ONE FURTHER CHANGE

The Rt Hon Winston Peters MP, Leader of New Zealand First, today said that the inclusion of changes to the Electoral Integrity Amendment Bill requested by New Zealand First, reflecting our Party’s views and that of the country, had given the Bill real power to prevent undemocratic, unprincipled party hopping from ever happening again in New Zealand.

“The amendments we have requested in the SOP give the Bill real teeth whereas the Bill initially would simply have had no affect on party hoppers unless they first wrote to the Speaker signaling their resignation,” said Mr Peters.

Mr Peters said that the New Zealand First Caucus had requested one further change – that Party leaders must have the support of two thirds of their Caucus, rather than a simple majority, to successfully expel an MP, acting outside party policies and procedures, from within their ranks.

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>>