Govt refuses to release licence scam report

Months after the Government was told of the licence scam, illegal immigrants are still being issued drivers licences, says National MP Tony Ryall.

In January, the National Party revealed that immigrants were being issued driving licences even though the applicants were in the country illegally.

Mr Ryall says Transport Minister Pete Hodgson is refusing to release a Land Transport Safety Authority report on the matter, saying he is still considering the privacy and human rights issues involved!

"Meanwhile, illegal immigrants are still able to obtain this form of official New Zealand identification."

The LTSA has told licence-issuing agents to issue licences to foreigners regardless of whether their visas have expired.

"The country is rightly concerned about the abuse of passports, and we should also be worried about this practice.

"Drivers' licences are more than just permission to drive.

"They are an official form of identification that can be used for all sorts of purposes, including getting an IRD number.

"Mr Hodgson should stop this scam now. I am appalled he has sat on this report since mid-February and done nothing to halt this abuse of our country's sovereignty", said Mr Ryall.

© 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>>