20 November 2001 Media Statement

Teacher negotiations back on

Education Minister Trevor Mallard said he had been informed that negotiations between the Ministry of Education and the PPTA were to start again this morning.

Trevor Mallard said the PPTA had said they were in a position to return to the negotiating table to try and settle the collective agreement for secondary school teachers.

“Government negotiators have always been available and I am delighted that the PPTA has decided it is timely to resume talks,” Trevor Mallard said.

“As a sign of good faith, I have accepted the government negotiators’ decision to start formal negotiations notwithstanding the industrial action that teachers are pursuing.

“That is an unusual concession but illustrates good will on the government side for the agreement to be settled,” Trevor Mallard said.

ENDS

© Scoop Media

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>>