12 March 2001

Greens urge students to look at records on EUB

Green Party MP Sue Bradford says students should be sceptical of politicans claiming they back the reintroduction of the Emergency Unemployment Benefit for students over the summer break.

"The Green Party applaud the New Zealand University Students Association for running a campaign on this issue but students should remain aware that what some politicians say and what they then do are often two completely different things," she said.

"The Green Party still cannot believe that, just six months after voting down my private members bill which sought to reintroduce the EUB, the Alliance are now running around trying to campaign on reintroducing this benefit."

Ms Bradford said the Alliance had never explained to her why they voted down her bill and she urged students to look at the track records of all politicians before believing what they were promising.

"Both Labour and the Alliance sought out students votes at the last election and then, when it came time to deliver, they both got cold feet," said Ms Bradford.

"At least Labour told us why they would not be supporting my bill and have been consistent on the issue since then. We still feel this is a very bad breach of faith but it is nothing compared to the unexplained and opportunistic flip flops of the Alliance."

Ms Bradford said students needed to constantly bear in mind the track record of politicians who made promises, blatantly broke them without good cause and then ran around campaigning on those promises all over again.

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>>