Damien O'Connor's Double Standard

National Party MP Nick Smith is accusing Damien O'Connor of double standards.

"Damien O'Connor's decision to deport a 16-year-old sex abuse victim to Sri Lanka contrasts with his damning, as an Opposition MP, of the previous Government's decision to deport Mr and Mrs Schier to Germany from Maruia because of drug convictions.

"In 1999 Mr O'Connor was more sympathetic to a convicted drug dealer than he is today to a young victim of sex abuse.

"I find it rich that he can demand compassion for a convicted drug dealer but not deliver it to a victim of rape," Dr Smith says.

"The case of Guenther Schier was championed by Mr O'Connor despite Police finding half a kilogram of cannabis at their Maruia home, and a failure by Mr Schier to declare two drug convictions from his home country of Germany to New Zealand Immigration.

"In 1999, Mr O'Connor demanded that these overstaying drug dealers be given clemency on compassionate grounds and accused the then Minister of being callous for deporting him.

"It defies belief that now as Minister he is taking such a hard line against this young woman. It's clearly part of a calculated bid to create the false impression that this Government is not a soft touch for refugees," says Dr Smith.

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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>>