Prime Minister Helen Clark said tonight that the Minister of Corrections has made it clear to his department that representations received from ministers and MPs are to be given the same weight as are representations from members of the public.

“The Associate Minister of Corrections, Tariana Turia, is well aware of, understands, respects, and upholds the operational independence of the Prison Service.

“She does believe, as a Member of Parliament, and as the Associate Minister, that she is entitled to forward representations to the service.

“Mrs Turia did forward to the Corrections Department representations from the family of a young man who, many years ago, had been placed as a state ward in her home by the Department of Social Welfare. This connection was declared to the Department of Corrections.

“Mrs Turia always does her best to pass on to the Prison Service the requests of prisoners and their families.”

Helen Clark said that the Minister of Corrections and the Associate Minister of Corrections are working on clarifying the procedures to be followed when representations are made concerning prisoners in the future.

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>>