Dr Cullen must pull anti-business ministers into line

"Finance Minister Michael Cullen must act quickly to pull his anti-business ministers into line, " says National Party Deputy Finance spokesman John Key.

Mr Key is commenting in the wake of indications from US Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan that he is relaxed about the continuing weakness of the US dollar.

"Instead of taking a stick to the exchange rate - which Dr Cullen finally admits he has little control over - the Government should be taking a stick to its anti-business ministers and anti-business policies.

"The Kiwi is poised to reach post float highs while growth is predicted to slow even further, leaving the domestic economy teetering on a knife edge.

"Exporters are preparing for a change in the economic weather. Leading economists say dairy farmers could be in for an 'unsustainable shock', with payouts that may be up to 50% lower than what they got when the Labour Government took office.

"Dr Cullen should be turning his attention to the policies he can control in our own domestic economy.

"He needs to be helping businesses that are drowning in compliance costs and extra taxes.

"He and his ministers must listen to the outcry from employers over pro-union changes to the ERA," says Mr Key.

© 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>>