Clark should show she's listening by stopping school closures

As pressure mounts on the government to halt the current round of school reviews, the Green Party is calling on Helen Clark to demonstrate that she really is listening to community concerns by stopping the proposed closures. The call comes after representatives of 11 communities yesterday formed 'Parents Against Closures' (PAC), a national organisation to fight the government's plans, and two zone meetings of local government leaders voted to oppose the intended shutdowns.

"The Prime Minister partially heeded our previous call with last week's moratorium on further school closures, and we thank her for that, but she shouldn't leave the job half done," said Green Party Co-leader Rod Donald.

"Helen Clark needs to listen to parents, local government, teachers, principals and communities and end the stress and division that the current round of closures is causing.

"With the future moratorium in place, those school districts under review are quite rightly feeling picked on and are upset that they are getting a rough deal.

"Ms Clark has admitted that the reviews were more far reaching than she expected. Now is her chance to match her concern with action," said Mr Donald.

"Rural and provincial New Zealanders deserve the same choices that people in the city have. Taking their schools away risks turning those living in smaller communities into second-class citizens." Mr Donald, who will be visiting threatened schools in South Canterbury tomorrow and speaking at Tim Shadbolt's public meeting on the closures in Invercargill tomorrow night (Monday 1 March), urged communities to keep up the pressure on the government.

© 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>>