Hon Roger Sowry MP
National Party Industrial Relations Spokesman

29 April 2004

National backs call on ERA Amendment Bill

"Labour Minister Paul Swain now has all the ammunition he needs to argue for the withdrawal of the Employment Relations Law Reform Bill," says National Party Industrial Relations spokesman Roger Sowry.

He's commenting after the unanimous vote by 230 employers in Auckland calling for the Employment Relations Law Reform Bill to be dumped in favour of a more cooperative, all-inclusive approach to industrial relations legislation.

"It's the clearest signal yet that Labour has got it terribly wrong.

"To now forge ahead with these 1970's style employment law changes is nothing less than a slap in the face for those who generate this country's wealth.

"Day after day in select committee, businesses have been coming before us to explain the serious impact of this Bill on their bottom lines.

"Today, some 230 businesses - without a single dissenter - have condemned the legislation. Surely it must be time for Mr Swain to say he has now heard enough.

"Mr Swain claims he is willing to listen to business on this issue. Today he could prove it," says Mr Sowry.

Ends

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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>>