ACT Local Government Spokesman MP Owen Jennings today challenged Wellington City Council Mayor Mark Blumsky to a debate on children's playhouses.

"What on earth is the Wellington Chief Executive and his bureaucrats doing harassing kids in their playhouses?" Owen Jennings asked.

"As if it wasn’t bad enough having bureaucrats using the RMA, the Building Act and the Local Government Act to interfere in the lives of adults, they are starting on our kids.

"Can’t kids have fun at home any more? It is nuts to attempt to eliminate risk when we desperately need our children to be stretched, enchanted - and, yes, occasionally frightened, by pushing themselves to their limits.

"The Todman Street playhouse that has to be demolished is strong, well built, and quite safe for children. It was constructed by an experienced adult. It is on private property and has given two kids a great experience.

"The Wellington City Council ought to leave kids alone and get on with doing something useful. I challenge Mark Blumsky to a debate, so he can stand up and explain why he wants to deny children their fun," Owen Jennings 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>>