Piripi Must Go

Maori Language Commission CEO Haami Piripi maybe completely unsuitable as a senior public servant, but his offence this week has been to breach principle against Labour - instead of politicking for political correctness, as he and his colleagues have been encouraged to do, ACT New Zealand Maori Affairs Spokesman Stephen Franks said today.

"Earlier this week, I pointed out that Mr Piripi's bigoted response to Dr Elizabeth Rata called into his question his suitability for the job of promoting Maori language," Mr Franks said.

"Mr Piripi's response to Dr Rata's report made it plain that he was much more interested in separatist politics than korero.

"On Willie Jackson's `Eye To Eye' programme, Mr Piripi confined his arguments against Dr Rata to personal abuse. The important point for the Government to note was how openly political it was. He plainly thought it was okay to use `ACT' as a term of abuse, as well as the name Don Brash.

"Haami Piripi should go - along with all the other unelected separatist politicians on the State payroll as part of the Treaty industry. They infest Government departments.

"Mr Piripi may be a deserving scapegoat for this Government, but at least it would be a tiny start to restoring the principle that public servants must be a-political," Mr Franks 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>>