26 September 2001 Media Statement

Tertiary Commission report not yet received

The final report of the Tertiary Education Advisory Commission on potential changes to the tertiary education funding system will be delivered to the Government next month, Education Minister Trevor Mallard confirmed today.

Trevor Mallard said he understood that a report in the New Zealand Herald newspaper this morning was based on an earlier draft of the report. The report has not yet been finalised by the Commission or submitted to the Government.

The Government expects to receive the report next month and release it for public consultation in November. Following consideration of submissions, Cabinet will consider how the new tertiary funding system should be structured.

Trevor Mallard reiterated that Government decisions in respect of the report's recommendations would be consistent with Labour and the Alliance's pre-election tertiary education policies.

Associate Education (Tertiary Education) Minister Steve Maharey is out of New Zealand on official business this week visiting China and Japan.

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>>