ACT Finance Spokesman Rodney Hide has today asked the Auditor-General to investigate the behaviour of NZ Post’s Board and their decision to invest in “Newbank”.

"A vicious open war has developed amongst Board members, resulting in an unprecedented level of leaks to ACT and the media," Rodney Hide said.

"The processes being followed are undermining the Board's effectiveness and efficiency. This is not a Board that you would want to do business with. The result is that the value and opportunities of NZ Post are being undermined.

"The Minister had a chance to get an independent investigation last week. He chose instead to kick the problem back to the Board.

"The problem has since deepened. The only way forward is for the Chairman - and perhaps the entire Board - to be dismissed.

"The latest round of Board shenanigans are just part of the problem.

"This year the Board decided to continue with a venture into personal banking, when all advice including that of Cameron and Co was against the proposal. The Board failed to heed that advice. Their decision to continue suggests they were reckless.

"Under the Public Audit Act 2001 that came into effect yesterday, the Auditor-General has the power to investigate SOEs to see whether they are undertaking their activities effectively and efficiently. I have written to the Auditor-General detailing the case against NZ Post and asking him to do just that," Rodney Hide 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>>