Jenny Shipley Leader of the Opposition

28 March 2001

Spin can't disguise Cullen backdown

Opposition Leader Jenny Shipley has tonight welcomed the Minister of Finance's abandonment of his proposal to impose a capital gains tax on Taranaki and West Coast leasehold farmers.

"This is a massive backdown from where he was two days ago. Tonight he has had to admit that the law as passed by the National Government was correct, and will now stand, as is.

"In his statement he admits that the market value approach to compensation does incorporate the impact of tax on cashflows. At a meeting today with the Minister's officials I made it clear that this understanding was reached between the leaseholders and the Government at the time I was Prime Minister.

"Cullen's shameless attempt at a tax grab for fiscal reasons has been exposed for what it was," Jenny Shipley 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>>