It's been seven weeks since Health Minister Annette King announced the Community Services Card review but nothing has yet been done to advance just what the future of the card will be, National's Health spokesman Roger Sowry said today.

National introduced the card to allow lower income people and beneficiaries access to subsidised health care.

Two months ago in what looked like a slip up by the Government it increased the threshold for beneficiaries' eligibility but didn't for the 48,000 low-income workers earning the same income.

"Annette King announced a review of the card after the unfair anomaly was pointed out but her answers to my written questions show there is no terms of reference, no decisions have been made as to who is reviewing the card and there are no plans for public consultation.

"This is looking like an announcement made at the heat-of-the-moment promise that seems to have no chance of being implemented.

"The Greens were promised by Annette King that the review would be completed by October, but given the lack of information on budgetary and policy implications of scrapping the card it is fanciful to think that she will have any sort of report this year," Mr Sowry 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>>