Cynical Politicians Ignore Early Childhood Education

The Government has cynically put early childhood education at the bottom of the 'To Do' list, ACT Education Spokesman Donna Awatere Huata said today.

"Only eight per cent of the $320m increase for education is destined to help early childhood education this year. That's because our youngest kids, who can't vote, simply aren't a priority for this Government.

"I find it perverse that Trevor Mallard claims he is improving early childhood education, when the figures prove he has absolutely no commitment to fixing this vital sector.

"Our most destitute kids are the ones missing out on early education. Labour and Alliance politicians are happy to leave poor parents in the dark about the opportunities they are missing out on.

"Our youngest children should be a priority. Empty grandstanding in the Beehive is not going to help educate the young kids from Otara who so desperately need a head-start," Donna Awatere Huata said.

© 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>>