Gerry Brownlee National Education Spokesperson

23 August 2001

Schools the losers in SOE profits

National's Education spokesperson Gerry Brownlee says schools must be given certainty over funding increases to compensate for hefty power bills.

"The last thing we want is schools forced to close to save power. Mr Mallard says he's 'looking into it' and that there may be a 'funding increase' for schools with power bills more than 10% over budget. That's not good enough.

"Schools need certainty about exactly how much extra funding they will get. Once they've consumed the power it's too late to take drastic measures to save it.

"It's ridiculous that state owned generators are making obscene profits from the power crisis while schools are using up valuable funds to pay hefty power bills from those companies.

"We've already seen a case of school pupils writing letters to businesses begging for money to buy textbooks. The closure of schools to save power will only hasten our demise to third world status," Mr Brownlee 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>>