Wed, 2 Jun 2004

Power Crisis Of Labour's Making

Wednesday 2 Jun 2004

Ken Shirley - Press Releases - Energy

Kiwis wanting to know who is responsible for the blackouts that leave them stumbling around in the dark in search of candles need look no further than the Labour Government, ACT New Zealand Deputy Leader and Energy Spokesman Ken Shirley said today.

"Price gouging and spikes at the supply nodes are a direct function of transmission grid constraints - the perils of which advisors and energy experts have been warning for years," Mr Shirley said.

"But Labour ignored them, preferring instead to sit on its hands. Now, we have an appallingly inappropriate structure in the energy sector - with State-owned monopolies dominating generation, reticulation and supply.

"Meanwhile, under-investment in the national grid is a scandal. Astronomical price gouging is having a crippling effect on major industries, and is driving them away from New Zealand. At the same time, potential investment opportunities are not being seized because of the uncertainty and unreliability associated with electricity supply.

"More Government intervention and regulation is not the answer. Labour is already strangling the electricity market.

"What we need is more market and less Government. Then, and only then, will we begin to see the investment, innovation and competitive prices needed to ensure a quality energy sector able to cater to the needs of the nation," Mr Shirley said.

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>>