Compensation For Exporters

ACT New Zealand Rural Affairs Spokesman Gerry Eckhoff today called on Customs Minister Rick Barker to ensure compensation for all exporters who lost money due to the Customs Department's computers crashing.

"Exporters need certification to ensure entry into overseas markets but, with the computer system down, no certification was possible. This resulted in exporters losing space on aircrafts.

"Airfreight is booked well in advance to ensure space. But if that space is lost, it cannot be automatically re-allocated on the next flight, meaning that many export orders have been delayed. Inability to provide a service does not bode well for a service industry.

"Mr Barker's Border Security Bill forces exporters to pay customs for the certification process. It is incumbent upon the Ministry to perform its tasks," Mr Eckhoff 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>>