Desperate Sutton stoops to lying on biosecurity

Agriculture Minister Jim Sutton has resorted to telling out-right lies in a desperate attempt to fight off attacks about the Budget's failure to deliver to agriculture, says National's Agriculture spokesman David Carter.

In a Budget press statement Mr Sutton said that 'In 2001 we introduced a $200 instant fine for biosecurity breaches at airports, something previous governments had been too scared to do.'

Mr Carter says that is just plain lying.

"The $200 instant fine was introduced and legislated for by a National Government in 1999 and was supposed to come into effect in 2000.

"But Jim Sutton, with his mind on things other then protecting our agriculture industry, forgot to obtain the necessary Budget allocation for the programme. So the initiative was put back a year and started in 2001.

"Blatant lying reeks of Labour's desperation to sell their welfare Budget.

Mr Carter says farmers have been ignored for five consecutive Labour Budgets.

"With a Budget surplus of $5.9 billion, Labour has missed a golden opportunity to deliver a Budget focused on economic growth and wealth creation.

"Instead, the Budget will only make more Kiwis dependent on welfare.

"The challenge for New Zealand is creating wealth so we can raise our standard of living and ensure better health and education services.

"Labour's desperate Budget of Bribes will stagnate our nation's growth," says Mr Carter.

© 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>>