Newman misleads yet again

Claims in Parliament by Act MP Muriel Newman that government assistance to repair dangerous rural housing is only available to Maori are completely incorrect, Housing Minister Steve Maharey said this afternoon.

Dr Newman made the comments during Parliamentary Question and then tabled documents which she alleged proved her case.

Steve Maharey said he had reviewed the information tabled by Dr Newman and checked the eligibility criteria for the rural housing essential repairs scheme.

“As usual Dr Newman has got her facts wrong.

“Housing New Zealand’s Essential Repairs scheme provides suspensory loans to help home owners fix houses in critical and dangerous states of repair. This includes situations where health and safety are at risk.

“Assistance is available to New Zealand citizens and permanent citizens on the basis of need – not race as Dr Newman asserted.

“This is yet another case of opposition parties using Maori for their own political ends by making false claims, which is deplorable,” Steve Maharey 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>>