"Minister of Social Services Steve Maharey's continual attempts to claim that the Government increased CYFS funds by $36m in last year's Budget shows just how committed Labour is to spin over substance," National's Social Services spokesperson Bob Simcock said today.

"I fully accept that CYFS has been under pressure for some time, but let's not forget that Steve Maharey inherited a department that was stable. It was this Minister who created a crisis - no one else.

"Mr Maharey was warned by CYFS that referrals were increasing, but all he gave them was a miserable extra 2.6% ($8.8m) of their budget. That is why the number of unallocated cases has doubled under his leadership," Mr Simcock 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>>