John Luxton National Tourism Spokesperson

21 December 2001

Labour u-turns on airport charges

Labour has u-turned on its pre-election banter against charges at airports to pay for security costs, National's Tourism Spokesperson John Luxton said today.

"Labour made great promises before the last election that they wouldn't implement border charges on airlines to pay for security, biosecurity and customs. Now they're charging airlines another $2.80 per passenger for security.

"This Government, which opposed recovering costs from airlines and travellers, is now turning around and doing exactly that.

"These increased costs will adversely affect tourism by increasing again the charges on people going through airports," Mr Luxton 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>>