ACT will happily assist Deputy Prime Minister Jim Anderton sort out the mess surrounding the Resource Management Act and the Hauraki Gulf Marine Park Act, ACT Rural Affairs Spokesman Owen Jennings said today.

"We are not holding our breath, but if Mr Anderton really wants to break the red tape and bureaucracy stranglehold, we will be the first party to support him.

"ACT was the only political party to oppose the Hauraki Gulf Marine Park Bill. We opposed it because it is one of the most tyrannical, obnoxious pieces of legislation ever passed by the House.

"ACT predicted trouble with a Bill that has a racial split running through it, has clauses that clash with the Resource Management Act, and has ridiculous boundaries that stretch from Auckland city as far south as Putaruru, and all the way up the coast of Coromandel.

"Equally, the RMA has draconian powers and abuses of property rights that urgently need addressing.

"We welcome Mr Anderton’s new interest in cutting red tape and getting compliance costs under control. For the sake of the country let’s hope he is serious," Owen Jennings said today.

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>>