So what are those options Dr Cullen?

"As the dollar edges ever closer to its post float all time high, exporters are ready for Michael Cullen to finally reveal what his options are for controlling the exchange rate," according to National Party Deputy Finance spokesman John Key. On November 5 at the Finance & Expenditure Select Committee, Dr Cullen said that the Government was 'not without options' to address the rapidly rising exchange rate.

"The Kiwi fell to 61.10 US cents that afternoon, but since then it's crept up more than six cents to 67.18 US cents today.

"If it keeps rising at the current rate it will climb past the 70 cent mark, as it has done only twice before, and beat the late 80's post float high of 72.75 US cents in the short to medium term," predicts Mr Key.

"Therefore it has to be the appropriate time for the Finance Minister to explain exactly what his 'options' are for controlling the Kiwi dollar.

"In November he deliberately teased exporters with promises of relief from the high exchange rate, but he has not delivered.

"If Dr Cullen is true to his word then New Zealand exporters should be hearing more about these so-called options," Mr Key says.

"But Dr Cullen is well aware that various countries have failed to control exchange rates via direct intervention, including Japan which has massive reserves to draw on.

"Rather than meddling with the exchange rate, Dr Cullen must turn his attention to anti-business policies that are stifling growth and adding costs to business, like the RMA," says Mr Key.

"He should be reeling in talk of Union-friendly changes to the Employment Relations Act and dumping the looming election bribe of an extra week's paid holiday.

"The business sector might have been able to carry some of those costs, albeit reluctantly, when the exchange rate was down at 40 US cents. But those expenses become unbearable with an exchange rate at more than 67 US cents," Mr Key says.

© 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>>