Labour Govt's Culture Of Extravagance

Revelations that Government broadcasters are swanning off to a conference at a luxurious Fijian resort, spending at least $50,000, further confirms Prime Minister Helen Clark's idea of 'arts and culture' is the culture of excess, ACT New Zealand Broadcasting Spokesman Deborah Coddington said today.

"This makes a mockery of Broadcasting Minister Steve Maharey's attacks on WINZ conference spend-ups when National was in Government," Miss Coddington said.

"Miss Clark, when in Opposition, promised to end this sort of nonsense, but the opposite has happened.

"We've seen the Government fork out millions of dollars to American movie moguls, just so Miss Clark can be photographed with Tom Cruise. At the same time, internationally renowned film makers, like Vincent Ward, struggle to make feature films.

"Swanning off to international events is now accepted practice for government organisations. Since Helen Clark became Prime Minister and Arts and Culture Minister, the New Zealand Film Commission has spent $845,097 of taxpayers' money attending film festivals at exotic places like Cannes, Venice, and Milan.

"And that's only the amount spent on airfares, accommodation and daily expenses. If these public servants' salaries are taken into account, more than $1 million - money that could have helped make another movie like `Whale Rider', has been spent on overseas trips.

"It's a disgrace.

"It shows just how out of touch and arrogant this Clark-led Labour Government has become," Miss Coddington said.

© 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>>