ACT Social Services Spokesman Dr Muriel Newman says the Government has made yet more of a hotchpotch of Social Welfare legislation with its efforts this evening to clean up a legislative foul-up made earlier this year.

"Through extremely sloppy processes the Government and Social Services Minister Steve Maharey inadvertently abolished the two week stand-down period for sickness beneficiaries from April 1.

"It is likely that Department of Work and Income staff have been continuing to impose the long established stand-down period despite Mr Maharey's gaffe ' which is probably illegal.

"Now to save Mr Maharey's red face Parliament is having to throw retrospective measures into an Act which deals with an entirely separate matter.

"This has been yet another botch up by the accident prone Social Services Minister who is proving to be a huge embarrassment for this Government.

"The result is even more convoluted social welfare legislation," Dr Newman 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>>